The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has planned cashless fare deduction for the 60km stretch of the Delhi Meerut Expressway (DME) and a proposal has been mooted for the installation of ‘automatic number plate readers (ANPRs)’ at all the six entry/exit points near Akshardham in Delhi and Meerut in western Uttar Pradesh.
The DME project spans 8.7km in phase 1 from Akshardham to UP Gate; 19.28km in phase 2 from UP Gate to Dasna; and 31.78km in phase 4 from Dasna to Meerut which is a dedicated access-controlled expressway. The NHAI officials said the exit/entry points will be Akshardham, Indirapuram, near ABES College, Eastern Peripheral Expressway and Bhojpur in Ghaziabad and the final one at Partapur in Meerut.
“We have proposed installation of ANPRs at all entry/exit points. The device will read the vehicle’s front and rear number plates at the entry point and calculate the fare when the vehicle arrives at the exit point. The fare will automatically be deducted from the wallet account of the commuter. For this, commuters will have to register like they did for Fastags,” Mudit Garg, project director, NHAI, said.
“In case the vehicle has a non-standard registration plate, the exit gates will not open. In such a case, the commuter will have to pay in cash and that too for the entire 60km stretch, irrespective of from where (s)he got on. The systems will be installed in November for phase 1, which is an operational phase, and in December for phase 2 and phase 4 once the construction work is complete. A proposal has also been sent to headquarters and it is likely to get cleared,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“In case the vehicle has a non-standard registration plate, the exit gates will not open. In such a case, the commuter will have to pay in cash and that too for the entire 60km stretch, irrespective of from where (s)he got on. The systems will be installed in November for phase 1, which is an operational phase, and in December for phase 2 and phase 4 once the construction work is complete. A proposal has also been sent to headquarters and it is likely to get cleared,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The officials said the fare will be charged according to the per kilometre of distance travelled by the vehicle.
At present, officials estimate that the DME from Delhi to Meerut will cater to about 48,000 passenger car units (PCUs) per day. The phase 1 caters to about 1.2 lakh PCUs while the phase 2 is expected to cater to about 60,000 PCUs per day.
The DME stretch from Delhi to Meerut will have total of 14 lanes of which six towards the centre will be dedicated as an expressway while the outer four lanes on each side will be dedicated as highway lanes and will not be chargeable for local commuters.
The phase 3 from Dasna to Hapur is also operational and having one toll plaza at Pilkhuwa. The previous toll plaza from Dasna in Ghaziabad was shifted to Pilkhuwa after the stretch became operational on September 30, 2019.
The two phases -- phase 2 and phase 4 -- of the DME are under construction and are likely to be ready by the end of the year. According to officials, the phase 4 is about 73% ready while the phase 2 is about 83% complete.