Question : Collection of Toll Tax

(a) the present status of the use of the-state-of-the-art technology in the process of collection of toll in the country;

(b) the percentage of toll collection centres where the said technology is being used;

(c) the steps taken by the Government for making toll collection smooth, transparent and simple;

(d) whether various complaints including irregularities in toll collection centres have been received by the Government during the last three years; and

(e) if so, the nature and number of such complaints received and the corrective follow-up action taken by the Government on them?

THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

(SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)

(a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 77 FOR ANSWER ON 28.04.2016 ASKED BY DR. RAMESH POKHRIYAL "NISHANK" AND SHRI BHARAT SINGH REGARDING COLLECTION OF TOLL TAX
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(a) to (c) The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has rolled out the cashless payment mechanism (FASTag) on fee plazas on National Highways. FASTag offers near non-stop movement of vehicles through fee plazas and convenience of cashless payments of fee(toll) with nationwide inter operable Electronic Fee Collection Services. FASTag is operational on over 275 fee plazas (out of Total 358 NHAI Fee Plaza) (i.e. 76.81%) on National Highways across the country. FASTag employs RFID technology for making fee payments directly from the account linked to it. A vehicle using FASTag will have cashless travel. Government has allowed NHAI to give 10% cash back incentive on fee payments in financial year 2016-17 for FASTag users. The cash back amount for a particular month will be credited back to the FASTag account at the beginning of the next month. Use of FASTag will increase user convenience from payments without stops at fee plazas thus saving on time, money and fuel. The online payments shall improve transparency of fee transactions and reduce revenue leakages thus improving overall efficiency and commercial competitiveness.

(d) Yes, Madam.

(e) 92 complaints were received during the last three years. These include overcharging, misbehavior by fee collecting staff, general facilities, wrong receipt issued, excess user fee charges, high toll rates, illegal toll collection etc. In this regard, suitable follow-up actions like penalty imposed on fee collecting agency, removal of fee plaza staff, publicity measure regarding user fee information, warning to concessionaire etc. have been taken by the concerned executing agency.

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