After Income Tax, Big Relief On Highway Tolls Soon? What Nitin Gadkari Told NDTV

Days after the Centre provided income tax relief to the middle class, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has said the Modi government is now working on a uniform toll policy to benefit national highway users.

Speaking to NDTV, Mr Gadkari, the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister, said the commuters will get the relief "soon".

"Our research has been completed and the scheme will be revealed soon," he said.

राष्ट्रीय राजमार्ग के टोल पर जल्द ही बड़ी राहत मिलेगी। pic.twitter.com/25hRjZKbyy

— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) February 5, 2025

Mr Gadkari, however, didn't reveal whether the toll would be abolished or reduced.

He also said the government is working on a barrier-less global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based toll collection system on national highways.

His remarks came days after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman provided the biggest-ever tax break to the middle class.

In the Budget 2025-26, she announced that individuals earning up to Rs 12.75 lakh in a year will not have to pay any taxes, a move that will benefit about one crore taxpayers.

Nitin Gadkari On Toll Tax Memes

Nitin Gadkari also reacted to memes featuring him on toll collections and said he knows that "many cartoons of mine" are circulated widely on social media platforms.

"Many people troll me on social media. People are a little angry about the toll. All I can say is that the anger about the toll will go away in a few days," Mr Gadkari, who is the longest-serving road transport and highways minister, told NDTV.

According to reports, private cars currently constitute about 60 per cent of the traffic on national highways and the share of toll revenue from these vehicles is 20-26 per cent.

Total toll collection in India - which has the second largest road network and its National Highways span a total length of 1,46,195 km - touched Rs 64,809.86 crore in 2023-24, a 35 per cent rise over the previous year. The collection was Rs 27,503 crore in 2019-20.

In December 2024, Mr Gadkari told Lok Sabha that about Rs 1.44 lakh crore have been collected as user fees across toll plazas operational under the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) model on the National Highways since 2000.

Planes To Land In Yamuna?

Nitin Gadkari also said the Yamuna River that flows through Delhi will be cleaned up and made into a landing strip for aircraft.

Asked about the fate of the river, he said he had plans for the river.

"This was done in Gujarat as well. Sabarmati river was used as a landing strip," Mr Gadkari said, referring to the time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the sea plane service to the Statue of Unity near Kevadiya as part of the regional connectivity project in 2020.

The Prime Minister had travelled on the maiden flight of the twin-engine plane.

A similar thing will be done for Yamuna also, he said. "You can take off from Delhi and land in Agra within 13 minutes and return the same day".