NEW DELHI: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has directed the officials to ensure that toll is collected through a set protocol and not by point-of-sale (POS) or any other software from the users, who are not using Fastag or overloaded vehicles.
In a recently released Standard Operating Procedure (SoP), the authority has also mandated officials to carry out surprise checks at toll plazas for strict enforcement of rules for fee collection.
The SOP states that the officials will ensure that all the transactions including cash – from non-Fastag and overloaded vehicles — and exemptions are processed only through the Toll Management System (TMS) of toll plaza.
Further, with an aim to strengthen transparency in tolling operations and ensure that toll is collected as per the set protocol, the NHAI has enhanced penalties for agencies — engaged in toll collection from highway users — if any breach of contract is found. For enhanced penalty, the authority has adequately made provisions in the contract agreement, which were approved in the executive committee meeting recently.
“Any use of parallel or alternative software, POS terminal, and POS billing machines etc are strictly prohibited and liable to be penalised...it is pertinent to mention that transactions outside the toll management system (TMS) not affects the operational transparency but also undervalues the Annual Potential Collection of the toll plazas,” read the circular issued to notify changes and SOP for implementation.
The note said changes in the agreement were incorporated as the NHAI has been receiving complaints about some fee collection agencies, which are using POS machines to collect user charges from non-Fastag and overloaded vehicles.
“The project directors through project implementation unit officers and authority engineers or independent engineers shall conduct surprise checks at least once a week especially at night to ensure that the transactions are processed in TMS. A random check may include identifying the vehicle registration numbers of say 10-20 commercial vehicles from a location close to the toll plaza and then checking the transaction of all those vehicles in the TMS,” the SOP states.
Clear instructions
The National Highways Authority of India has directed the officials to ensure that toll is collected through a set protocol and not by point-of-sale machines or any other softwares from the users who are not using Fastag. The officials were also told to carry out surprise checks at toll plazas for strict enforcement of rules for fee collection.