FasTag has become old… now Toll Tax will be deducted through new satellite system, Nitin Gadkari gave information

Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that the government will implement Fastag as well as SNSS based toll collection system on selected national highways. In a written reply to a question, he said that this new system has been implemented as a pilot project on Bengaluru-Mysore Highway of NH-275 in Karnataka and Panipat-Hisar route of NH-709 in Haryana.

Satellite service faster than FasTag
Nitin Gadkari said that the central government has decided to implement the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system on selected sections of the National Highway in addition to the existing FASTag facility, initially on a pilot basis. The FASTag service was started with the aim of reducing the time spent at the toll plaza and now preparations to take another big step in this direction are almost complete. The Union Minister had earlier also said that the new (satellite based toll system) is faster than FASTag.

Now toll plazas will be virtual
The biggest advantage of this satellite based toll tax service is that with its arrival, travelling on national highways will become even easier, such that you will not have to stop at any toll tax like at present and this tax will be collected from you on the go. Talking in detail about its functioning, the FasTag system currently implemented at toll plazas for tax collection works on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, which automatically collects toll. But in the GNSS based tolling system, there will be virtual tolls. That is, it will not be visible where the toll is and neither will you have to stop at them.

This is how the GNSS system will work
Virtual gantries will be installed in the satellite system for toll collection, which will be connected to GNSS enabled vehicles and as soon as a car passes through these virtual tolls, a fixed amount will be deducted from the user’s account. Such services are being provided in many countries of the world, including Germany and Russia. It is clear that the time that drivers have to spend on toll tax now will also be relieved through Fastag.

Why are NH projects getting delayed?
In response to another question, Union Road Minister Nitin Gadkari said that out of all the National Highway projects started about 10 years ago, 697 projects are getting delayed from their scheduled time. Explaining the reasons behind these delays, he said that the biggest reasons for delay in NH Projects are land acquisition, statutory approval, encroachment removal, law and order, financial problems of the contractor as well as pandemics like Covid-19, unforeseen events ranging from rain-flood to cyclone-landslides.