NEW DELHI, October 18 — The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, awarded commercial contracts on Sunday to implement India’s first barrierless Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) satellite-based tolling system across the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway.
The technological architecture integrates Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) on-board transponders with high-speed Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) gantries installed along entry-exit highway interchanges. Moving vehicles will be accurately tolled based on precise distance travelled at highway cruising speeds of up to 100 km/h, automatically debiting linked FASTag digital wallets without requiring physical boom barriers or toll stops.
NHAI officials stated that eliminating physical toll plazas will wipe out vehicle idling queues, saving an estimated ₹20,000 Crore annually in wasted logistics transit time and fuel consumption while slashing vehicular idling carbon emissions across congested national corridors.
The statutory mandate of NHAI under the National Highways Authority of India Act 1988, development milestones under the Bharatmala Pariyojana and PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, physics of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) used in FASTag, and satellite positioning technologies are essential study topics for UPSC GS-III and State Engineering Services.