All national highway toll plazas to have ‘cashless’ facility from December
The number of vehicles with FASTag is expected to go up from the current 7.5 lakh to 25 lakh by March 2018 (Representational Image)
In a bid to reduce the waiting period for vehicles, all national highway toll plazas will have Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) mechanism from December, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said.
“All the vehicles coming on the road after December 1 will have a FASTag to ease cashless toll collection on national highways across the country,” the minister said.
“The total of 7.5 lakh vehicles already have the FASTag. The number would grow to 25 lakh vehicles by March 2018. The total 3,500 lanes on national highways would be made FASTag ready in the coming two months,” he added.
Gadkari said the revenue generation through FASTag system is pegged at Rs 10 crore at present.
“I have asked all the state governments to adopt the new technology and system of my ministry for easy vehicular movement. The cameras deployed at toll plazas will scan the vehicle and deduct the amount for the distance travelled from the vehicle owner’s bank account. Unlike the existing system of charging a flat amount for all the vehicles,” Gadkari explained.
He said the new system will end long queues at toll plazas.
The minister also claimed that the GST has benefitted the logistics industry a lot.
“Crossing check posts at every state border used to be a major time consuming task. The transporting company had to pay some cess as well. With implementation of GST, some 22 different cess have been abolished,” he said, adding that the logistic cost has been reduced by 15-20 percent.
The logistics cost is on an average 18 percent in the country whereas in China it is 8 percent. “We want to bring it at 12 per cent so India can compete at the international level,” Gadkari said.
“The ministry is planning a huge container yard near Vasai on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai highway. The containers would then be carried to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) on huge ferry boats through the sea around Mumbai instead of the roads,” he said.
The government has already asked for a land at Vasai to develop a parking area, where trucks coming from Gujarat to Mumbai will be parked. The trucks will be transported by a vessel to Mumbai port to reduce congestion.
With agency inputs
