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The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued a notification that tolls at various national highways and expressways in the country will increase by up to five per cent from April 1, 2024. These highways include Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway, among others. The toll hike will generate more revenue for the authority and will be utilised for the maintenance of national highways and expressways in the country.

Delhi-Mumbai Expressway:

Toll on the 12-lane expressway will increase by five per cent from next month. The expressway is still under construction. Only some stretches are currently open for public. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the current calendar year. Upon construction, travel time between Delhi and Mumbai will reduce from current 24 hours to 12 hours.

Delhi-Meerut Expressway:

Tolls on Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) will also rise by five per cent. Currently, tolls are collected at the rate of Rs 2.19 per km from vehicles plying on the 83 km expressway. It takes just 45 minutes to reach from Delhi to Meerut via the DME.

Eastern Peripheral Expressway:

Even on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, the NHAI will increase tolls by five per cent from next month. The six lane expressway stretches on the eastern side of Delhi in the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. It starts from Sonepat and terminates at Palwal in Haryana. It passes through Ghaziabad and Greater Noida in UP and also Faridabad in Haryana.

Apart from these, the NHAI is going to increase toll on various others highways and expressways in the country.

NHAI levies tolls on vehicles plying on the national highways through FASTag. But going forward, GoI will implement GPS-based toll collection system in which number plate of the vehicle will be captured by automatic number plate reader (ANPR) cameras installed at highways and toll will be deducted from the bank account of the vehicle owner based on exact distance travelled. The number plate will be captured by ANPR cameras installed at highways. Implementation of the GPS based toll collection system will make traffic more smoother than ever as it will eliminate the need of having toll plazas. Vehicular movement will be captured by ANPR cameras right from the time the vehicle will be on the highway. Currently, despite of all the hype about FASTag system,  vehicles still have to slow down while passing through the plazas. But, with GPS system, there will be no need of any plazas itself entire process will be practically digitised in the true sense.