New Delhi: The central government may soon provide relief from toll tax for millions of travelers traveling on national highways and expressways. The Ministry of Road Transport is considering two proposals to provide relief from tolls. The first proposal is to impose no charges on two-and-a-half-lane and narrow national highways. The second proposal is to offer a pass for unlimited travel for cars at a cost of 3000 rupees for one year. According to sources both proposals have been approved by the Ministry of Road Transport. Currently this proposal has been sent to the Ministry of Finance as its implementation will result in a decrease in the government’s earnings from tolls. However it is estimated that there will not be much loss from making narrow national highways toll-free. Previously Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari had discussed the plan to provide an option for annual and lifetime passes for private vehicles. The central minister has frequently stated that the government is considering providing significant relief to passengers traveling on national highways and expressways. He also mentioned that if tolls are reduced there would be no complaints from him. According to sources from the Times of India during a review meeting Nitin Gadkari proposed to make toll-free the two-lane roads with two and a half lanes or paved roads and asked officials to consider this. The toll fee on these roads is 64% lower compared to national highways with four lanes or more. There are fewer than 50 toll plazas of this type across the country and except for a few all are publicly funded roads. This means that the tolls on these roads are collected by government agencies. In addition in most cases the amount received from these tolls is less than the amount spent. In this situation making these roads toll-free is not a bad proposal. The most important issue is the collection of tolls on national highways and expressways with four lanes or more. Tolls on these roads are collected by private agencies. In such cases if the government issues annual passes for private vehicles it will have to compensate for the losses. According to government data during 2024-25 the government earned a total of Rs 61000 crore through tolls. Private vehicles accounted for about 20-21% of this share. The remaining 79-80% of the earnings came from commercial and heavy vehicles.