NHAI flags use of tampered number plates to evade toll

New Delhi: Seeking to curb the menace of people tampering with their vehicle's number plates — such as erasing or hiding letters and numbers using paper or plastic — to evade toll payment at the camera-based Mundka barrierless toll plaza, NHAI has urged Delhi transport department to carry out regular and sustained enforcement drives against such violators.

Under the Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF), or barrierless, tolling system at Mundka Bakkarwala plaza on UER-II — the second such plaza on the national highway network — vehicles do not need to stop to pay toll charges.



High-performance RFID readers and automatic number plate recognition systems integrated with AI-enabled cameras installed overhead allow seamless vehicle identification, and the toll amount is automatically deducted from the FASTag wallet linked to a vehicle.

TOI has learnt that NHAI has highlighted that the success of barrier-less tolling is dependent on accurate and reliable readability of vehicle number plates. Hence it's essential to ensure that all vehicles passing through MLFF toll plaza are fitted with High Security Registration Plates (HSRP), ensuring clear visibility of both front and rear number plates, it has said.

"Any instance of tampered, non-standard, defaced, or obscured number plates will directly impair the automated tolling system, leading to revenue leakage and enforcement challenges for the govt," NHAI has said.

Officials said that in most cases, such vehicles do not have FASTags affixed to their windscreens, making toll deduction impossible. In addition, tracking such vehicles becomes difficult, and e-notices cannot be issued because without an exact registration number vehicle owners cannot be identified through the Vahan database. They added that though the share of such vehicles passing through the toll plaza is less than 1%, there is an urgent need to mend this.

TOI has learnt that NHAI has written to authorities concerned in states where MLFF is going to be rolled out. In the next few weeks, this will be implemented at Gharaunda toll plaza on Delhi-Amritsar highway; Manoharpura, Shahjahanpur and Daulatpura in Rajasthan on Delhi-Jaipur highway.

Officials said that nearly half of those who received e-notices after MLFF started at Chyorasi in Gujarat and Mundka in Delhi are paying their dues within the stipulated 72 hours. The numbers of e-notices are less in the case of Delhi.