ECC refund final hurdle in MCD toll, FASTag integration

The ECC was introduced by the Supreme Court in 2015 to curb pollution from commercial vehicles entering Delhi.

With the formation of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) standing committee, a long-pending plan to integrate the civic body’s toll tax system with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI)’s FASTag platform may finally get past the administrative delays that have held it up for two years. But officials say the project still faces one major hurdle—handling refunds of the environment compensation charge (ECC) collected at the Capital’s borders to eligible vehicles.

According to MCD data, around 105,989 commercial vehicles enter Delhi daily, with about 70,000 of them being taxis or cabs. (HT PHOTOS)

The integration project, first proposed as a pilot at the Kundli border, is designed to unify toll collection systems and reduce the need for vehicles to carry separate RFID tags or cards. Both MCD’s toll tax system and FASTag use similar radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. But the challenge lies in ECC—a pollution mitigation fee levied in addition to toll taxes.

“The two base technologies are essentially same but besides toll, MCD also collects the Supreme Court mandated ECC. ECC is refunded for trucks carrying essential goods but the Fastag does not have any refund provisions,” a senior civic official explained. “So even though both systems use similar technology, integrating them is not as simple as it seems.”

The ECC was introduced by the Supreme Court in 2015 to curb pollution from commercial vehicles entering Delhi. It applies on top of toll taxes and is intended to discourage unnecessary traffic and fund clean air initiatives, such as better public transport and pedestrian infrastructure. The fee is mandatory for commercial vehicles, but exemptions are made for trucks carrying essentials such as food, fuel, or medicines—with the amount later refunded. FASTag, however, was built for flat toll payments and doesn’t currently support partial or conditional refunds.

Currently, MCD collects toll taxes based on 2007 Delhi government rates. Taxis pay ₹100 per trip or ₹3,000 monthly, while trucks and larger vehicles are charged more. Initially, there were 124 toll points at Delhi’s borders, which has now increased to 154. RFID systems have been installed at only 11 locations so far, while handheld devices are used at the rest.

According to MCD data, around 105,989 commercial vehicles enter Delhi daily, with about 70,000 of them being taxis or cabs.

In March, the MCD restarted the process of appointing a new toll operator after getting approval from the House in February. It has set an annual revenue target of ₹900 crore—up from the current average of ₹864 crore. The proposed contract would run for three years, with a possible six-month extension. To attract more bidders, MCD also revised some of the eligibility criteria, including easing the condition that applicants must have experience managing at least 122 toll lanes.