(This story originally appeared in on Jul 01, 2015)

NEW DELHI: Private vehicle owners may soon be able to zip through toll plazas on all national highways across the country by paying an annual toll charge of around Rs 2,500-Rs 3,000.The road transport ministry is set to move a cabinet proposal seeking approval of this proposal that could entail the government taking the burden of paying a substantial portion of the toll to the private developers.Sources said this facility will be like an annual pass. At present, monthly passes allow commuters to pass through only one toll plaza.Under the scheme, called "shadow tolling", the discount will be available only for those who install a smart tag named "Fastag" in their vehicles.The government would pay the differential amount to the developers, which could be about Rs 1,500 crore from its total kitty of toll revenue.Since NDA government came to power, several proposals have been brought on the table including allowing free passage to public transport and free travel for private vehicles within a district. "The new proposal could strike a balance between politics and finance ," said a source.Existing private players of highway stretches that are operational have taken projects on PPP mode for a certain period based on the projected toll they would collect from all types of vehicles. Sources said while introducing a new provision, the NHAI or the ministry has to compensate the concessionaires either by extending the contract period or by paying the differential toll amount.At present, the share of toll paid by private vehicles annually is about Rs 1,900 crore. Officials said several proposals are being considered and under the new proposal, private vehicles using smart tags would only be eligible for such discount. "This has to be mandatory so that we can calculate how many private vehicles passed a toll plaza using the passes. Since all these tractions will be recorded electronically, the private players cannot fudge figures," said a source.TOI has learnt that the outgo on account of this shadow tolling would have to come from NHAI's toll collection kitty.But taking such a decision would be a tough one for the government considering the fact that the collected toll charges is ploughed back to take up expansion of existing and fresh construction of highway stretches.