'We are ending toll': Nitin Gadkari

The Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari today said that the government is ending toll and the new satellite based toll collection system will be introduced soon. "Now we are ending toll and there will be a satellite base toll collection system. Money will be deducted from your bank account and the amount of road you cover will be charged accordingly. Through this time and money can be saved. Earlier, it used to take 9 hours to travel from Mumbai to Pune, now it is reduced to 2 hours," Nitin Gadkari told ANI.

Discussing the Bharatmala Pariyojana, which aims to develop approximately 26,000 km of economic corridors, Nitin Gadkari emphasized their significance alongside the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) and North-South and East-West (NS-EW) corridors in handling the bulk of freight traffic on roads. He expressed confidence that the project will revolutionize the nation's future by 2024. Gadkari articulated his ambition to elevate India's National Highway road network to the standard of America, expressing assurance in his ability to achieve this goal.

Earlier in December, Nitin Gadkari had announced that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) aims to roll out this new system by March 2024. Efforts to streamline processes and reduce waiting times at toll plazas have been communicated to the World Bank. With the introduction of FASTag, the average waiting time at toll plazas has significantly decreased to just 47 seconds, marking a notable improvement from the previous average of 714 seconds.

Construction and expansion activities on National Highways have seen a rise of approximately 10 per cent between April and November of the current fiscal year compared to the same period from 2011 to 2023. However, the allocation of new construction projects has witnessed a decline of 52 per cent this year.