NEW DELHI: Private vehicles and buses may be exempted from paying toll on highways in their districts if the road transport ministry accepts a proposal currently under consideration that promises to bring significant relief to commuters and ease congestion on highways.The revenue loss on account of this exemption could be made up by increasing the toll fees on commercial vehicles or the government could pitch in to compensate for the amount forgone, the proposal suggests. Personal vehicles comprise half of the overall traffic on highways but contribute only 14% to the toll kitty. In 2013, only Rs 1,600 crore of the total toll of Rs 11,400 crore came from personal vehicles, according to road ministry data.“We are toying with various ideas not just to give some benefit to the users but also compensate for the loss in toll,” a top ministry official said. Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari had recently said the government cannot do away with toll entirely and is trying to work out a mechanism that will benefit all.The removal of toll plazas along with a pan-India electronic toll collection system on the national highways is likely to save the country Rs 88,000 crore, according to a Transport Corporation of India-IIM Calcutta study.The government has received several requests including from members of Parliament to do away with toll. However, some experts have cast doubts on the idea of removing the toll and its implication on the public-private partnership projects.“Policies have to be made for future. Fewer private vehicles are using the highway because the roads are not good enough and there are other options available, unlike in the case of commercial vehicles,” said Jaijit Bhattacharya, partner-infrastructure and government services at KPMG India. Besides, the road ministry is trying to implement the electronic toll collection (ETC) across all highways in the country by the end of this financial year. However, the success of the first such initiative launched last year on the Delhi-Mumbai stretch is still in question.“Not all concessionaires are cooperating with us to get the electronic toll going. The fleet owners with overloaded vehicles are also not keen on this system since it brings about transparency,” a senior government official said.The government had scrapped 61 toll plazas which become had unviable or recovered the cost completely.Toll collection is faced with problems of overcharging and undercharging. Complaints of nonreporting and under reporting of the toll fee by collection agents are also rampant.The Indian Highways Management Company is implementing the ETC on a pan-India level and providing services including toll transaction clearing house operations, helpdesk support and setting up of call centres for Incident Management, Intelligent Transport Systems, etc. ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are providing the central clearing house facilities.