Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said India is moving towards a fully digital and barrier-free toll collection system expected to be operational across the country by February-March 2027. He added the system will use the Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) model.Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai. (PTI)MLFF tolling is a barrier-free electronic toll collection system that uses overhead gantries to identify and charge vehicles as they pass at normal speeds, without requiring them to stop or slow down.Gadkari said the government aims to eliminate stoppages, which would help reduce fuel consumption and the operational costs associated with toll plazas. “In one year, we want to get all our tolls free on the MLFF model. I directed officials to complete it by December 2026. I believe 60% to 70% of the work will be completed by the end of the year. By February-March, a barrier-free toll plaza system will be implemented across the country,” Gadkari said at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai.Gadkari, who inaugurated the country’s first barrier-free tolling system at the Mundka-Bakkarwala Toll Plaza on Delhi’s Urban Extension Road-II in May, said such a system means there will be no toll plaza on the way and no one will stop the vehicle. “It also means reducing fuel consumption and the operation and maintenance costs of toll plazas,” he said.Gadkari said the operating cost of toll plazas is between 12% and 15%, which is expected to fall to 2% to 4% once the barrier-free tolling model is implemented nationwide. “This will help save ₹6,000 crore to ₹7,000 crore annually.”Gadkari said the electronic toll collection system FASTag has transformed the system by significantly reducing waiting times and eliminating the need for cash payments and change at toll plazas. He added that the next step is to ensure that vehicles do not have to stop at toll plazas at all. “Earlier, the waiting time was 12 minutes, which used to stretch to 30 minutes at some places.”Gadkari said software has been developed to understand the waiting time at every toll plaza. “There has been an improvement of 80% to 90%, but I want it to improve further so that no one has to wait at toll plazas,” Gadkari said.Gadkari said the annual savings from reduced toll-plaza waiting times amount to around 71 crore hours and 56 crore litres of fuel, translating into fuel savings worth approximately ₹5,250 crore. “The economic value of the time saved by commuters is estimated at ₹68,500 crore annually,” he said. “This is such a big benefit for the people.”Gadkari said the wider adoption of FASTag and the shift towards digital tolling generated an estimated benefit of ₹20,000 crore to ₹25,000 crore annually for the government. “If you compare the system before and after FASTag, the benefit to our department alone comes to around ₹20,000 crore to ₹25,000 crore per year.”