New Delhi: Will Indians be able to drive down National Highways without having to stop at toll plazas soon?
Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari has announced that a new satellite-based toll collection policy will be introduced across the country within the next 15 days. The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) – based tolling will do away with the concept of toll plazas.
A constellation of satellites will pick up the registration number of a vehicle travelling on a National Highway, check the number of km it has travelled and calculate the toll, before deducting it automatically from the bank account linked to the vehicle. Since the introduction of FASTag, all vehicles that use the National Highways frequently have a linked bank account.
“Vehicles will no longer have to stop, even for a few seconds, at a toll plaza. The toll will be calculated even as they are moving. This will save fuel and bring down travel time. Moreover, the calculation will be more accurate. For example, private vehicles that use the National Highway daily, are exempted from paying toll tax for 20 km, under the new rules. This calculation will only be possible through satellite-based toll collection,” an official said.
The introduction of FASTag brought down the average time spent at toll plazas from 734 seconds to 47 seconds. This will now be nil.
The new toll collection system will make use of India’s Independent Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) NavIC that is more accurate for Indian roads than GPS. While GPS is accurate up to 20 metres, NavIC can locate a target within 5 metres.
According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), five of the 11 satellites in the NavIC constellation are fully functional and these can cover all National Highways in the country. Once all the satellites are functional, NavIC will extend beyond the country’s borders.
