• Source:JND
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As per a notification, owners of personal vehicles having a functional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) won't have to pay any fee for traveling up to 20 kilometers on highways and expressways each day.

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

Under the new rules, called National Highway Fee (Rate Fixation and Collection) Amendment Rules, 2024, a fee will be imposed on the actual distance traveled when the distance exceeds 20 kilometers.

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In July, the Roads Ministry said that it had decided to initially introduce GNSS-based toll collection on selected national highways on a pilot basis as an added benefit along with FASTag. Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said that Haryana is conducting a pilot study regarding the GNSS-based user fee collection system on the Bengaluru-Mysore section of NH-275 and Panipat-Hisar section of NH-709 in Karnataka.

"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 kilometers of a journey in each direction in a day under Global Navigation Satellite System based user fee collection system," the notification said.

Gadkari said that stakeholder consultations through international workshops were organized on June 25, 2024, and Global Expression of Interest (EoI) was invited for wider industrial consultations on June 7, 2024. The last date for submissions is July 22, 2024.

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(With PTI's Inputs)