{"id":59984,"date":"2025-08-19T11:13:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T05:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=59984"},"modified":"2025-08-19T11:13:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T05:43:25","slug":"ending-perpetual-tolling-pacs-push-for-highway-toll-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/ending-perpetual-tolling-pacs-push-for-highway-toll-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Ending Perpetual Tolling: PAC\u2019s Push for Highway Toll Reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Highway Toll Collection Reform Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has recommended major reforms to toll collection practices on national highways.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A key proposal is to <\/span><b>end the system of perpetual tolling<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, where tolls continue indefinitely even after the full recovery of construction and maintenance costs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The PAC submitted its report to Parliament recently, highlighting the need for fairness, transparency, and rationalisation in toll collection, ensuring that road users are not overburdened.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Key Recommendations of the PAC on Toll Collection<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has recommended a major overhaul of toll collection practices.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It suggests that <\/span><b>toll charges on national highways<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> should be discontinued or reduced <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">once construction costs and maintenance expenses have been fully recovered<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, ending the practice of perpetual tolling.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The committee raised concerns that current practices allow indefinite toll collection regardless of road quality, traffic volume, or affordability.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It proposed the <\/span><b>establishment of a specialised regulatory authority<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to ensure transparency and fairness in toll determination, collection, and regulation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PAC also pointed out that toll charges currently increase annually by a fixed 3% plus partial indexation to the Wholesale Price Index (WPI).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, there is no independent mechanism to verify whether these hikes are justified in relation to actual operational or maintenance costs.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It further recommended that commuters should be reimbursed when road construction disrupts usage.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>On FASTags<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, while acknowledging their widespread use, the committee noted that traffic bottlenecks persist due to scanner malfunctions at toll plazas.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It recommended setting up <\/span><b>on-site services for motorists to top up, buy, or replace FASTags<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, ensuring smoother traffic movement.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>How Toll is Determined<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under <\/span><b>Section 7 of the National Highways Act, 1956<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the government is empowered to levy fees for services or benefits on national highways, while <\/span><b>Section 9<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> authorises it to frame rules.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based on this, toll collection is governed by the <\/span><b>National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The user fee is based on base rates fixed under these rules, and not directly linked to the cost of highway construction or recovery.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Toll rates <\/span><b>increase annually by 3%<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> since April 1, 2008, along with an <\/span><b>additional adjustment of 40% of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> rise to cover variable costs of operation and maintenance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tolls are collected either by the Union government (for publicly funded highways) or by private concessionaires under models like <\/span><b>Build-Operate-Transfer (BoT),<\/b> <b>Toll-Operate-Transfer (ToT)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or <\/span><b>Infrastructure Investment Trusts<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (InvITs).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A 2008 amendment allowed toll collection to continue in perpetuity, even after concession periods end, with revenues directed to the Consolidated Fund of India if NHAI manages the highway.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Toll revenues have grown significantly, from \u20b91,046 crore in 2005-06 to about <\/span><b>\u20b955,000 crore in 2023-24<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, of which \u20b925,000 crore is transferred to the Consolidated Fund of India, while the rest remains with concessionaires at toll plazas.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Ministry\u2019s Response<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Ministry of Road Transport and Highways<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> acknowledged the Public Accounts Committee\u2019s concerns.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It confirmed that a <\/span><b>comprehensive study with NITI Aayog<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been initiated to revise the user fee determination framework.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>scope of the study<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has already been finalised and will consider key factors such as:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vehicle operating costs<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Damage to highways caused by vehicle use<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Users\u2019 willingness to pay<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This reflects the Ministry\u2019s intent to create a fairer and more transparent toll policy aligned with actual costs and user affordability.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/how-should-toll-collection-practices-be-reformed-explained\/article69948846.ece#:~:text=It%20states%20that%20efficient%20toll,utilisation%2C%20and%20projected%20delay%20periods.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TH<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PAC recommends ending perpetual tolling, ensuring fair user charges, refunds during construction, and transparency in India\u2019s highway toll policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":59991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2249,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-59984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-highway-toll-collection-reform","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}