Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday announced the launch of India’s first multi-lane free flow toll (MLFF) system at the Chauriasi toll plaza on National Highway 48 in Gujarat, marking the first operational barrier-free toll site in the country. Under the MLFF system, vehicle numbers are detected using ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras and checked using the VAHAN database to ensure that the right vehicle has been identified by an AI-based system.
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“Barrier-free tolls will enhance the ‘ease of living’ for citizens while enhancing the ‘ease of doing business’ by enabling faster and more efficient movement of goods and logistics,” he added.
Read also:Delhi-Amritsar-Katra e-Road to be completed by March 2028: Gadkari
Earlier on April 15, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) directed banks issuing FASTags to instantly verify vehicle registration numbers (VRNs) linked to FASTags, in a bid to improve data accuracy across India’s e-tolling ecosystem. Meanwhile, the recent amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 also seek to enforce payment discipline in a barrier-free system.
Under the new rules, any unpaid toll fees, known as “unpaid user fees” that are recorded electronically but not settled, could result in denial of services such as transfer of ownership, renewal of fitness certificates, and issuance of national permits. Officials said these enforcement measures are necessary for toll collection under the multilateral program, as compliance must be ensured digitally and not through physical checkpoints.
After the launch of the service in Gujarat, additional toll plazas are expected to be set up under the multilateral program in phases across the country. Previous plans indicated that about 25 toll plazas would be converted to barrier-free systems as part of the initial expansion. The pilots were carried out at the Garunda toll plaza on the Delhi-Chandigarh Expressway among others.
The government has set a target to implement MLFF tolls across the national highway network by the end of 2026, effectively eliminating the need for vehicles to stop at toll plazas nationwide.
