Using AI to verify toll collections on NH: Nitin Gadkari

He also pointed to an incident at Atraila Shiv Gulam fee plaza in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur, where full cash was collected, part of which was processed through an unauthorised handheld machine and not through the toll management system software of the fee plaza.

“Learning from this incident, NHAI aims to strengthen the cash collection process from invalid/non FASTag vehicles and additional surveillance is being contemplated to strictly monitor the count of vehicle passing through the fee plaza to tally it with the receipts at the toll plaza,” he said.

Gadkari was responding to a question by DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran on steps taken by the government to tackle frauds related to toll collection on national highways.

Under the pilot programme of making barrier-less toll collection systems, the minister added that NHAI has invited bids for the implementation of a FASTag and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)-based toll collection at five toll plazas at Gharaunda, Choryasi, Nemili, UER (urban extension road)–II and Dwarka Expressway.

“This system enables user fee collection exclusively through FASTag. E-notices are proposed for Invalid/NonFASTag vehicles, thus eliminating the cash collection from the toll collection process.”

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In his reply, Gadkari also said that more than 98% of user fee collection occurs through FASTag under National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) programme with National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) as central clearing house.

“The transaction involves a transparent process wherein the deducted user fee (Toll) is informed to the highway users and recorded in a central repository. The Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system is designed such that no FASTag transaction can take place without the participation of all three stakeholders– acquirer bank at user fee plaza, NPCI and issuer Bank.”

Gadkari said for cash transactions too, the user fee collecting agencies are obligated to process collections through the toll management system, so that a centralised record is maintained. He added monitoring of cash collection and exempted vehicles is part of half-yearly internal audits of NHAI project implementation units (PIUs) based on which corrective measures are taken to improve the ETC penetration further.

“In addition to above, the Government has appointed System Integrators to monitor the user fee plaza operations 24X7 and to report to the Central Control Room of any suspicious activity occurring at the user fee plaza.”

However, he added that the government is investigating some potentially fraudulent operations at user fee plazas based on complaints and so far, seven agencies have been debarred or monetarily penalised for a breach of contractual obligations including breach of operational transparency.