NEW DELHI: The road transport ministry has approved exemption from tolling on National Highways (NHs) that are less than four lanes and has sent the proposal to the finance ministry for its nod. This is part of the two proposals now with the finance ministry to bring relief to lakhs of commuters using NHs and expressways. The second proposal is to issue annual passes costing around Rs 3,000 for unlimited travel for car owners.
A senior road transport ministry said that the proposals have been approved and sent to the expenditure department of the finance ministry since it involves some revenue loss. While annual passes would cause some loss to toll revenue, stopping user fee collection on narrower highways won’t have any impact, they added.
Though earlier road transport minister Nitin Gadkari had spoken about the plan to offer the option of annual and lifetime pass for private vehicles, the ministry zeroed down on the annual pass, considering high probability of its acceptance among vehicle owners. The minister has been speaking about extending some “big relief” for highway commuters in the near future and has also claimed that with this they won’t have any complaints.
Sources said the proposal of collecting no tolls on two-and-half lanes or two-lane NHs with paved shoulders was mooted by the minister at a review meeting when he asked officials to look into it. The user fee on such roads is 60% less than the toll payable on highways that are four-lane and more. TOI has learnt that there are around 200 toll plazas on such stretchesand barring a few all are public funded roads, meaning the toll is collected by govt’s own agencies.
“In most cases, the toll generated is less than the expenses incurred. So, it isn’t a bad proposition to do away with tolling on these stretches. The only issue is highways with four lanes and more, and expressways. There are a significant number of private players collecting toll and govt has to compensate for the loss they may incur due to annual passes,” said a source.
Data show that out of the total toll revenue of Rs 61,000 crore of 2024-25, private cars had a share of around 20-21%. and the large chunk of 79-80% fee comes from commercial and heavy vehicles.