The toll plaza will soon become history. Now very soon the Government of India is going to implement toll cutting technology from satellite. The old fastag toll collecting system is surrounded by a lot of controversies and preparations have been going on for a long time to replace it. New technology is called Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), it is technically much more advanced than the current fastag.
Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has claimed that the GNSS toll collecting system will start by the end of this month. A few days ago, in a public program in Nagpur, the Union Minister announced that the Ministry of Roads and Transport (MORTH) will start a new toll collecting system in the next 15 days.
This system can be very successful
If this system is implemented across the country, then it can be a big success compared to the fastag system. The fastag system was brought to toll booths to reduce long queues. However, it has helped reduce waiting time. Still there are some shortcomings in it. The new GNSS-based system is designed to completely eliminate toll booth stops. This will make the journey even faster and easier.
So the plan was postponed
Earlier it was expected that this technique would be implemented from 1 April 2025, but this could not happen and it was late to implement it. The central government had postponed the decision to launch the GNSS Highway Toll Collecting System. Reports have shown that the authorities waited for their group of navigation satellites to become active for a more accurate system.
What will be the benefit
The advantage of the GNSS system is that it will work to track vehicles through satellite. Also, vehicle owners will have to pay as much toll as it has traveled on the highway. At present, vehicles have to pay a fixed fee when leaving toll booths. Then no matter how much the vehicle has traveled. GNSS is flexible and fair in this case.
Ongoing testing in many cities
On the one hand it will help the government by stopping the toll theft, on the other hand, by reducing the cost of toll fee, the vehicle owners will also bring relief. Initially the new system will work with fastag, in which select toll lanes will be improved for new technology. As it is adopted, the entire toll plaza will be upgraded. Testing is going on in many places.