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Informist, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026

 

--Minister Gadkari: Seek suggestions for expanding use cases of FASTag
--CONTEXT: Comments by Road Minister Gadkari at Global Fintech Fest 2026

--Minister Gadkari: Moving towards barrier-free toll plazas
--Minister Gadkari:Barrier-free toll to bring dn operation, maintenance cost
 

MUMBAI – The Centre is working towards deploying barrier-free toll plaza systems across India in the next one year, months after India's first fully operational barrier-free toll system was launched, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said at the Global Fintech Fest Friday. "We are going towards a barrier-free tolling systems... in the next two-three months, before Feb-Mar, all over the country we will have this barrier-free system," Gadkari said.   

 

Barrier-free toll plazas use digital infrastructure to eliminate physical boom gates and traditional booths, allowing vehicles to pass through plazas at speeds of up to 80 kilomteres per hour without pausing. Authorities will deploy zero-wait tracks on highways, which are designed to fully eliminate vehicle stoppages.

 

The first pilot project for this was conducted at the Choryasi Toll Plaza on NH-48 in Gujarat on May 1, followed by the test at the toll plaza at the Mundka-Bakkarwala junction 10 days later, which was inaugurated by Gadkari.

 

The minister expects this system to reduce operational and maintenance costs. "The current operational cost, which is 12-15%, is now 2-3%," he said, adding that it would also ensure less collection spillages. "When I complete this system, the government will get a minimum of INR 20-INR 25 crores (INR 200 million-250 million) per year," he said. The cost of multi-lane free-flow systems is also less, and these will result in lower poulltion and lower fuel consumption, he said. 

 

In his address, Gadkari asked experts to study the benefits of services such as FASTag and provide the Centre suggestions and recommendations. "We have benefited from bringing only roughly INR 70 billion-INR 80 billion of technology," he said.

 

"The tolling system which we are bringing now, in which both number plate and FASTag are being used, it (savings) will increase by 10%," Gadkari said. Alongside savings for the government, the introduction of FASTag 10 years ago has also resulted in lower waiting time and more efficient fuel consumption for citizens, he said.

 

FASTag is an electronic toll collection system operated by the National Highways Authority of India, which allows users to drive through toll plazas across national and state highways without cash transactions. Gadkari said this is not a toll payment system, but a digital infrastructure for mobility. "The biggest strength of FASTag is interoperability," he said.  End

 

Reported by Anand JC and Sagar Sen

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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