Centre considers toll exemption for personal vehicles of serving soldiers

There are signs of good news for about 14 lakh serving soldiers guarding the country. A way appears to be opening for their private vehicles to get a full exemption from tolls. Highway systems are going digital, and the Centre has taken steps to remove the needless trouble this is causing soldiers. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is giving the matter serious thought.

Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF), a barrier-less tolling system, is being introduced gradually across the country. Under the new arrangement, roads have automatic number plate cameras and RFID readers, which deduct the toll automatically from vehicles passing at speed.

The problem is that this automatic system is deducting money by the rules even from soldiers' private vehicles. Many are also facing e-challans. Earlier, soldiers could pass easily by showing their identity card at the toll booth. The new digital system has ended this check by a person, and that has caused the confusion.

To remove this technical hurdle, the road transport ministry has started talks directly with the defence ministry. The aim is that soldiers' private vehicles face no trouble and that toll charges are not deducted from their accounts. Two main options are under consideration.

The first is to give the vehicles a special FASTag that will only record movement and will not deduct money from the account. The second is for the defence ministry to reimburse the cost of the annual FASTag pass. However, no final agreement has yet been reached on who will ultimately bear the financial burden of the pass.

According to sources, the target is to bring more than 1,150 toll plazas across the country fully under the new Multi-Lane Free Flow system by 2028. The work is running somewhat later than expected. Even so, to spare military personnel digital congestion and e-challan trouble in future, a plan is being drawn up to exempt them from the system in advance.

But with 14 lakh soldiers, the matter is not simple. The pass currently costs Rs 3,075 a year. If it were applied to all private vehicles, there are fears of a heavy financial burden on the government or the department concerned. All eyes are therefore on what middle path is found.