Free travel up to 20 km on highways for private vehicles fitted with GNSS

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The owners of private vehicles equipped with a functional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) will not be charged any amount for travelling up to 20 km on highways and expressways per day, according to a notification, reported the PTI.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Tuesday amended the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008.

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The toll collections will reportedly be as per the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS).

Under the new regulations, known as the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Amendment Rules, 2024, fees will now be charged on the actual distance travelled if the distance exceeds 20 kilometres.

"A driver, owner or person in charge of a mechanical vehicle other than a National Permit vehicle who makes use of the same section of the national highway, permanent bridge, bypass or tunnel, as the case may be, shall be levied a zero-user fee upto 20 kilometres of a journey in each direction in a day under Global Navigation Satellite System based user fee collection system," the notification said, according to the PTI.

The road ministry in July had said it has decided to initially implement a GNSS-based toll collection system at select national highways on a pilot basis as an added facility along with FASTag.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had said that a pilot study with regard to a GNSS-based user fee collection system has been done on the Bengaluru-Mysore section of NH-275 in Karnataka and Panipat-Hisar section of NH-709 in Haryana.

Gadkari had said a stakeholder consultation through an international workshop was organised on June 25, 2024, and global expression of interest (EOI) was invited for wider industrial consultation on June 7, 2024, with the last date of submission as July 22, 2024.

No need for electric vehicle subsidies: Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari earlier remarked that the government no longer needs to provide subsidies for electric cars (EVs). Speaking at the BNEF Summit, Gadkari stated that as demand for EVs has grown, production costs have fallen, making subsidies superfluous.

Initially, the high cost of manufacturing EVs required incentives to stimulate uptake. However, as more consumers choose EVs and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, the demand for subsidies has decreased, reported PTI.

Speaking at the BNEF Summit, the road transport and highways minister said, "Consumers are now choosing electric and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles on their own and I do not think we need to provide much subsidy for electric vehicles."

Nitin Gadkari pointed out that electric vehicles currently benefit from lower GST rates than petrol and diesel automobiles.

(with PTI inputs)