Govt defers roll-out of new satellite-based toll system

The Union government has decided to put on hold the roll-out of a satellite-based highway toll collection system that could eventually pave the way for fare booths to be removed, according to officials aware of the matter who said the plan is now to wait for India to activate its own constellation of navigation satellites for a more accurate system.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran and Soumya Chatterjee

NEW DELHI:

The Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) is exploring if India can adopt an automatic toll collection system that will gradually replace toll booths by calculating charges based on the actual distance travelled on toll roads. The system, according to an MoRTH workshop in June 2024, is meant to rely on an unspecified global navigation satellite system — or GNSS.

At present, the most widely used GNSS is the American global positioning system (GPS).

An official aware of the plans said the decision now is to wait till the Indian alternative to the GPS, known as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is fully operational. "The system that was proposed to ensure nonstop travel and replace toll plazas will be implemented once NavIC developed by ISRO is fully ready," this person said.