The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) plans to introduce a multilane free-flow (MLFF) toll collection system at Delhi’s toll plazas within two months, after a proposal to remove the city’s toll barriers stalled over a revenue shortfall of Rs 900 crore a year.
The system will use automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras to identify vehicles and enable online toll payments without requiring motorists to stop at collection booths. According to the report, the MCD expects the technology to reduce human intervention and ease congestion at locations where toll queues regularly build up.
The proposed shift follows the failure to secure compensation for the MCD’s toll revenue. The civic body had offered to close all 156 toll points if an agency compensated it for annual revenue of Rs 900 crore, along with a yearly increase of 5 per cent. However, neither the Delhi government nor the Centre has shown interest in meeting that financial requirement, the report said.
The stalled plan has particular significance for vehicles entering Delhi from surrounding areas. The report refers to nine major toll plazas where congestion has remained a concern, while also citing the MCD’s broader network of 156 toll points. The corporation’s proposed response is to modernise collection at existing toll locations rather than eliminate the toll system altogether.
Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi said the civic body was serious about ending congestion at toll plazas and expressed hope that ANPR technology would resolve the problem. The planned arrangement would allow vehicles to pass through without stopping for cash-based collection, with tolls paid online after the vehicle is identified.
The MCD’s proposed rollout builds on an earlier technology intervention. In 2018, radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems were installed at toll plazas when the civic body moved away from cash-based toll collection. That system was also expected to eliminate queues, but congestion continued at toll points, according to the report.
The difference between the earlier RFID rollout and the proposed ANPR system will depend on how vehicles are identified, charged and managed when payments fail or vehicle details cannot be read. The supplied report does not provide details of the proposed payment platform, enforcement process, implementation agency or the locations where the new system will first be deployed.
For commuters and freight operators, the immediate change will not be the removal of toll plazas. Instead, the MCD is preparing to make toll collection faster while retaining the existing revenue mechanism. The wider proposal to create toll-free roads remains dependent on a decision over how the corporation’s annual revenue loss would be funded.
The MCD has stated that the MLFF arrangement will be fully implemented within the next two months. Further details on the rollout, including the participating toll points and the operating mechanism, are expected as the civic body advances the plan.
