NEW DELHI: The road transport ministry was working on a uniform toll policy to benefit national highway users, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.
Gadkari also asserted that now India’s highway infrastructure matched that of the US. “We are working on a uniform toll policy. It will address the problem faced by the commuters,” he said in an interview, without elaborating further. The minister was responding to a question on simmering discontent among users of national highways on account of high toll charges and sub-par road-user experience. The longest-serving Road Transport and Highways Minister said the ministry had decided to initially implement a barrier-less global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based toll collection system on national highways.
Gadkari said the ministry had been taking the complaints made by commuters on social media very seriously and was taking strong action against contractors involved.
At present, while private cars constitute about 60 per cent of the traffic on national highways, the share of toll revenue from these vehicles was barely 20-26 per cent.
Toll charges had increased on highways even as more and more stretches had come under the tolling system over the past 10 years, often leading to rising user discontent, he said. The toll collection in the country touched Rs 64,809.86 crore in 2023-24, a 35 per cent rise over the previous year. The collection was Rs 27,503 crore in 2019-20. Around 7,000 km highways been constructed so far in the current financial year. Traditionally, the pace of highways construction is higher in the February-March period.