Toll plaza numbers made Rajasthan state on the top among the top 10 states in India. There are exactly 142 toll plazas in Rajasthan. Moreover, Rajasthan is also on top in terms of paying toll tax.
Construction of expressways, eight-lane, six-lane and four-lane highways in the country has made transportation easy and convenient. With the increase in the speed of vehicles on the highway, new toll plazas are also opening. At present 983 toll points are running on the national highways of the country. A maximum of these 142 checkpoints are in Rajasthan. Furthermore, Rajasthan holds the top position in terms of toll tax payments. There are only nine toll plazas in Kerala. What is also interesting and surprising is that out of 983 toll points, 457 have become operational in the last five years. Rajasthan is also ahead in terms of opening a new toll plaza.
Non-stop toll collection is still a long way off
The central government has planned to collect automatic tolls without stopping at toll plazas. But implementing it everywhere is still a long way off.
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based electronic toll collection (ETC) system is currently undergoing testing on the Bengaluru-Mysore Highway in Karnataka and the Panipat-Hisar route in Haryana as a pilot project.
Rajasthan stood on top by paying toll tax at toll plaza
The amount of toll collection in Rajasthan is increasing year after year. While this amount was Rs 3619 crore in 2019, it will increase to Rs 5954 crore in 2023-24. In five years, about Rs 22097 crore has been collected from vehicles at the toll points of Rajasthan.
Toll collection in Madhya Pradesh increased from Rs 1809 crore in 2019 to Rs 3766 crore in 2023-24. In MP Rs 13236 crore has been recovered in five years.
Highest collection at toll plaza on Ajmer-Delhi highway
On the Ajmer-Delhi Highway, two toll plazas (Shahjahanpur and Thikaria) have broken records in terms of earnings. In the last five years, about Rs 3000 crore toll tax was collected from these two checkpoints. After this, there is the Bharthana toll plaza of Gujarat, where Rs 2043.80 crore has been collected.
