Centre's Plans For GPS-Based Toll Collection Trigger Concerns

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is reportedly preparing to unveil GPS-based toll collection across India. Anurag Jain, Road Transport and Highways Secretary, said earlier that GPS-based toll collection will be tested on select highway stretches before making it operational across the nation. However, the new system has triggered privacy concerns.

The new technology is expected to replace the current FASTag system, which uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for toll payments. The GPS-based tolling system will also end the role of toll plazas. As per the new system, the Global Positioning System will track vehicles and calculate tolls based on travel distance. A tracking device is required for vehicles to enable monitoring of their movement. At the same time, the GPS system’s ability to track vehicle locations has raised privacy concerns. The government can acquire GPS coordinates of vehicles moving on highways and will be able to constantly track them.

In December, the Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, stated that a GPS-based toll collection system would be unveiled by March 2024. At the same time, NHAI has recently announced that FASTags with valid balances but incomplete Know Your Customer (KYC) will get deactivated soon. NHAI informed that such FASTags will be deactivated after January 31, 2024. This move aims to discourage users from using a single FASTag for multiple vehicles. NHAI also wants to discourage people from linking multiple FASTags to a particular vehicle. FASTag, which was introduced in the country in 2014, has transformed the way toll tax is collected in India.