No Need to Pay at Toll Plazas if Queue is Longer Than 100 Metres: NHAI

NEW DELHI: To ensure minimal vehicle clearance time at the toll plazas, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued new guidelines for its operators across the country.

According to the new guidelines, the queue of vehicles at toll plazas should never get longer than 100 meters. The time taken to process toll fees should never exceed more than 10 seconds per vehicle even during peak hours.

A yellow line at the 100-meter mark from the toll gate on each lane will be drawn to implement the guidelines with immediate effect.

The NHAI said, "even then if there is a queue of waiting vehicles of more than 100 meters due to some reason, the vehicles will be allowed to pass without paying toll until the queue comes within 100 meters from the toll booth."

It is to be mentioned here that, after the implementation of the FASTag electronic toll processing system, waiting periods at toll plazas had been drastically reduced on national highways.

Assam currently has the following functional tollgates —– Nazirakhat (Kamrup) and Raha (Nagaon) on NH 37, Patgaon (Kokrajhar), Dahalpara(Bongaigaon) and Madanpur(Kamrup) on NH 31, and Mikirati Hawgaon (Hojai) on NH 36 and Manderdisa (Dima Hasao).

According to an official statement by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), RFID-enabled FASTags contribute nearly three-fourths  of the total toll collection (till November). The daily collection stood at Rs 92 crore compared to Rs 70 crore a year ago.