New Delhi, Aug 7 : The toll fee collection on national highways under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was Rs 54,811.13 crore in the fiscal 2023-24, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, said in a reply in the Rajya Sabha that the expected increase in user fee collection solely due to the revision in fee rates at 2.55 per cent on the previous collection amount was Rs 1,400 crore.

'During the financial year 2023-24, total fee collection at national highway fee plaza operational under NHAI was Rs 54,811.13 crore,' Minister Gadkari informed.

During the last five years, user fee rates have been revised five times and the average increase in user fee rates is 2.55 per cent from FY 2023-24.

Meanwhile, the Ministry spent Rs 6,523 crore towards maintenance of NHs during the last year.

Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) is installed in high traffic density National Highways and National Expressways such as Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Trans-Haryana, Eastern Peripheral Expressway, etc. by the NHAI.

'In new NH projects on high-density and high-speed corridors of NHAI, installation of ATMS is generally a part of the project. Further, ATMS is also implemented as standalone projects in already constructed important corridors,' informed the minister.

On the total number of road accidents and fatalities on National Highways (including Expressways), the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said that in 2022, there were 4,61,312 accidents on all roads (including 1,51,997 on national highways), while 1,68,491 people succumbed to death (including 61,038 on NHs) in that year.

The Ministry said it has formulated a multi-pronged strategy to address the issue of road safety based on education, engineering (both of roads and vehicles), enforcement and emergency care.

NHAI has also successfully planted 402.28 lakh plants to date along the national highways as per the Green Highways Policy 2015.

/IANS