SRINAGAR: The government has reiterated that tractors and combine harvesters are exempt from paying toll tax at toll plazas on national highways, but admitted that the concession does not apply uniformly across the country.
Responding to a starred question in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said the exemption was provided through a Gazette Notification issued on March 14, 2017, which amended the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008. The notification extended the existing waiver for tractors to include combine harvesters, ensuring that both categories of agricultural vehicles would not be charged tolls.
However, the Minister clarified that while the rule is implemented at all public-funded fee plazas and at Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) plazas awarded after the 2017 notification, older BOT plazas continue to levy user fees in line with the concession agreements signed prior to the amendment. These agreements, Gadkari said, remain bound by the fee structures in force at the time they were awarded, limiting the scope for automatic exemption.
To prevent wrongful charges and bring greater transparency, Gadkari said the government has shifted all toll plazas to electronic collection systems through FASTag. This system, he added, ensures that only the applicable rates are deducted from a vehicle’s account while crossing toll gates. Further, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Indian Highway Management Company Limited (IHMCL) have developed the Toll Management and Control Centre (TMCC) portal to monitor real-time transactions and lane operations.
In cases where toll operators wrongfully deduct charges from exempt vehicles, Rule 13 of the 2008 Fee Rules authorises recovery of the excess amount along with an additional penalty of 25 per cent from the concessionaire concerned. The government has said this mechanism is in place to safeguard farmers and agricultural operators from unjust charges at toll plazas.
