NHAI has launched Tamil Nadu’s first barrier-free toll system at Paranur on NH-179B, where vehicles pay through FASTag and cameras without stopping.

Sources reported that the plaza went booth-free on 30 September, and the road transport ministry issued its release on 1 October.

The technology is called multi-lane free flow, or MLFF. Instead of funnelling cars into a few booth lanes, it reads every vehicle across the lanes without asking anyone to stop.

There is no barrier, no booth and no queue. A FASTag on the windscreen gets read as the vehicle rolls past, cameras that read number plates match it to the right vehicle, and the toll comes off the FASTag balance.

NHAI says travellers gain the most. Journeys get quicker, and vehicles burn less fuel and give out fewer emissions because nobody stops and starts at the plaza.

The authority also says less human handling makes toll operations more transparent, and cheaper than setting up physical plazas.

Drivers have one job. Keep a working FASTag with enough balance, or risk an electronic notice. Paranur is not the first site.

NHAI has been rolling out the system in phases, and it already runs at Chorayasi plaza on the Surat to Bharuch stretch of NH-48 in Gujarat, at Mundka-Bakkarwala plaza on the Urban Extension Road-II in Delhi-NCR, at Shahjahanpur, Daulatpura and Manoharpura plazas on the Delhi to Jaipur stretch of NH-48 in Rajasthan, and at Gharaunda plaza on the Panipat to Jalandhar stretch of NH-44 in Haryana.

NHAI calls MLFF a transformational shift in electronic toll collection. The authority says it has already helped make toll operations more transparent and efficient at the places where it runs.

Tamil Nadu now joins that list. The government ties the rollout to its aim of making travel and doing business easier through technology.

The release does not name the next locations.

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