On Monday (May 11), all 24 boom barriers at Mundka-Bakkarwala toll plaza on Urban Extension Road (UER)-II went up. The fare displays, line cameras, signal light and FASTag readers were turned off. A rectangular structure mounted on each lane gantry with three high-tech cameras and high-performance FASTag readers went live instead.

The new board on the toll plaza read: “Continue driving”. Replacing the old system with a new one, thus, also marked the beginning of Delhi-NCR’s first and India’s second Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) barrier-less tolling system.

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, inaugurated the advanced tolling system at Mundaka on Monday. This is a major milestone in the electronic toll collection (ETC) infrastructure of the country, which was started in 2014, replacing the manual tolling system.

Now, vehicles will not have to stop at the toll plaza for user fee or toll payment. The toll amount will be deducted with the help of high-performance Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras mounted over the gantry. The RFID and ANPR cameras work and read the FASTag and Vehicle registration Number (VRN) even when vehicles being driven at a speed of 80-100 kmph pass the gate, and the required amount gets deducted.

UER-II, officially called NH-344M, is a 75.7-km-long six-lane highway in Delhi, which starts from Mahipalpur and ends at Alipur.

Commuters crossing the toll gate on Monday morning were surprised and ended up stopping hesitantly even though boom barriers were up. Meanwhile, at lane number 14, Vikas Shukla, a toll supervisor, continuously waved hand asking drivers not to stop. “Aage badhiye, toll apne aap hi kat jaayega (Move ahead, the toll will be deducted automatically),” Shukla said to a person driving an SUV. He added that the new system is expected to end fights reported at the toll gate.

“The work at a toll booth is very difficult. People say all kinds of things to you. Even when they are at fault. Everyday, there was something or the other,” said Puneet Mishra, another employee at the fee plaza.

The MLFF system will reduce the operational cost since it will require limited human intervention. “Of course, this is a good thing. Our only hope is that we do not lose our jobs,” said Mishra.

Gadkari said that the barrier-free tolling system will help in increasing toll collection. “The operational cost of running a toll gate is around 15% of its collection. With the new system, this cost will reduce to around 4%. Besides, it will prevent leakages and add to more user fees. People used to complain that they have to wait at toll gates, sometimes for even an hour — leading to more fuel consumption. The MLFF system will not only save commuters’ time, but save fuel too,” said Gadkari after the inauguration.

According to the Economic Survey 2025-26, the MLFF is projected to be implemented across national highways and expressways with four or more lanes, by March 2029.

On May 1, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) operationalised India’s first MLFF barrier-less tolling system at Choryasi toll plaza on the Surat-Bharuch section on NH-48 in Gujarat.

Before this, the government took a series of decisions to create a platform to back the MLFF rollout. This was done to create a robust system so that the people do not find loopholes to avoid toll charges as MLFF has minimum human intervention. One of these measures was issuance of e-notice in case of unpaid user fees. In case of insufficient FASTag balance, invalid or non-functional FASTag, users will be issued e-notice for non-payment of fee, following which commuters are required to make the payment within 72 hours — failing which double the amount will be charged.

NHAI Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav said that since the operationalisation of MLFF at Choryasi, around 50% of payment was made within 72 hour of the e-notices. “People are following the rules. Of the total e-notice amount issued at Choryasi, we have received payment worth around Rs 30 lakh. Earlier, peak hour traffic at the toll gate was five minutes, now it is around zero,” said Yadav.

Last month, the NHAI had issued directions to all FASTag-issuing banks to immediately validate VRNs or license plate numbers linked to FASTags they have issued. The agency also directed banks to blacklist FASTags found linked to incorrect or invalid VRNs.

The direction was issued because in the absence of human intervention in the MLFF system, a mismatch between a VRN and FASTag could see commuters get away without paying the fee.

Yadav said the contract for 17 more toll plazas have been awarded, and the bidding process for 108 is ongoing, with a region-wise focus. The total number of toll plazas across the country stands at over 1,300, of which ones with over four lanes are around 700.