Annual toll pass within 20 km: ₹1,500 or ₹3,000

Yes, it is real. The road transport ministry (MoRTH) has notified a local pass for non-commercial vehicle owners with a valid FASTag who live within 20 km of a toll plaza that issues it. From 1 November 2026 it costs ₹1,500 a year at a plaza outside town limits and ₹3,000 inside, for that one plaza (PIB, 27 October 2026).

Dainik Bhaskar carried the change under a headline about a yearly pass for people near a plaza. The clipping we hold shows no printed date. A newspaper is a secondary source for a fee rule, so this article follows the PIB release and says where that release is silent.

What is the concessional local pass?

It is an annual toll pass for one toll plaza, aimed at people who live close to it. PIB calls it the “Concessional Local Pass”. MoRTH notified it through the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 2026.

Residents could already buy a monthly pass. A PIB report of a July 2022 Rajya Sabha reply explains that the 2008 fee rules let a non-commercial vehicle owner who lives within 20 km of a plaza get a pass for that plaza. The annual option sits beside the monthly pass and does not replace it.

What is new from 1 November 2026?

Eligible owners now have a second choice. PIB says they “can choose between the existing monthly pass and the concessional Local Pass” for a specific plaza. The national FASTag Annual Pass is a different product, so the table sets the three side by side as of 28 October 2026.

The part of the Dainik Bhaskar report we hold gives 1 November 2026 and does not mention 1 December. The app route starts on 1 December 2026, per PIB. For the national pass in detail, read our FASTag annual pass rules.

What do you save with the annual local pass?

If your monthly pass costs ₹360, twelve months cost ₹4,320, and the annual local pass costs less at either price. The arithmetic is ours, built on Dainik Bhaskar’s ₹360 figure, and it matches the newspaper’s savings box.

Savings against twelve monthly passes, as of 28 October 2026:

Both savings assume ₹360 is your monthly fee, the figure Dainik Bhaskar reported (as of 28 October 2026). If the fee at your plaza differs, redo the sum with that figure. If you would hold a pass for only part of the year, compare month by month: at ₹360 a month, the ₹1,500 pass costs less than buying monthly passes from the fifth month (4 × ₹360 = ₹1,440; 5 × ₹360 = ₹1,800), and the ₹3,000 pass from the ninth month (8 × ₹360 = ₹2,880; 9 × ₹360 = ₹3,240). This sum is ours and rests on the same ₹360 figure. You also pay once instead of renewing every month.

The national FASTag Annual Pass is a different product. It costs ₹3,075 for FY 2026-27 (PIB, 15 March 2026) and covers about 1,150 plazas for one year or 200 crossings. That is ₹75 above the ₹3,000 local pass and ₹1,575 above the ₹1,500 one, but the local pass covers a single plaza. Which fits depends on how many plazas you cross.

Who is eligible?

The PIB release of 27 October 2026 sets these conditions. You need all of them:

• A non-commercial vehicle.
• A valid and functional FASTag on it.
• A home within 20 km of the toll plaza.
• A plaza that issues the pass. It is not issued on a National Highway or Expressway that charges fees under a closed user-fee collection system. It is also not issued where a service road or alternative road is available for commuters.

Which fee applies depends on the plaza, not on your home. PIB prices the pass “depending on the location of the plaza”: ₹1,500 where the plaza lies outside municipal or local town limits, and ₹3,000 where it lies inside them.

Residence proof is the open point. For the monthly pass, NHAI listed an Aadhaar card, the Vehicle Registration Certificate and proof of residential address, with “etc.” after the list, in a PIB release of 24 October 2025. The release for the annual local pass lists no documents and no eligible plazas.

What does it change for people near a plaza?

PIB says (27 October 2026) the aim is a more economical way to travel and easier commuting. Your gain depends on your plaza’s location, its monthly fee and how often you cross.

• Plaza outside town limits: the saving is larger, if ₹360 is your monthly fee.
• Plaza inside town limits: the saving is smaller, so compare against what you actually pay.

PIB says the Central Government may revise the rates each year, with revised rates taking effect on 1 April, so ₹1,500 and ₹3,000 are not fixed for good. If you run a FASTag or service counter, customers may confuse this pass with the ₹3,075 national pass. Tell them to ask at the plaza, and that the Rajmargyatra route starts on 1 December 2026.

How to get and use the pass

PIB confirms the route, not every step. Follow this order, and check again on 1 December 2026, when the Rajmargyatra route is due to start.

1. Find out whether your plaza issues it. Ask at the plaza’s helpdesk, which NHAI names for the monthly pass, or look for a notice there. In October 2025 NHAI directed the plazas it runs to display pass rates and procedures on signboards and in the Rajmargyatra app (PIB, 24 October 2025). That order predates this pass, so a board may not list it yet. Ask which fee applies at your plaza and what its monthly fee is.
2. Check your FASTag. It must be valid and functional. If it is blacklisted or hotlisted, or a new tag is not active yet, fix that with the issuing bank first.
3. From 1 November 2026, ask at an eligible plaza. PIB says the pass is available at eligible plazas from that date. Ask which documents to bring and which fee applies. Treat the monthly-pass documents listed under Who is eligible (Aadhaar card, Vehicle Registration Certificate, proof of address) as a guide, not a confirmed checklist. You should leave with a pass tied to your FASTag and to that plaza, but PIB does not say how the pass is shown or linked, so ask. If the plaza says it does not issue the pass, a service or alternative road may be the reason, because the rule bars the pass there.
4. From 1 December 2026, the Rajmargyatra app is the second route. PIB gives the date but not the in-app screens, documents or verification steps. Read them in the app when the feature appears.
5. Use it at the named plaza only. At any other plaza the local pass does not apply.

If a toll is deducted wrongly, PIB’s 22 July 2026 release lists the National Highways helpline 1033, the issuing bank’s helpline and the Rajmargyatra app as complaint routes. Pay only at the plaza or, from 1 December 2026, inside the official app, and do not pay anyone who offers to arrange the pass for you. SiOnline does not issue FASTags or passes.

Notes and what is still unconfirmed

• Official versus newspaper. The date, the ₹1,500 and ₹3,000 fees, the 20 km rule, the eligibility conditions and the plaza-only validity come from PIB. The ₹360 monthly fee and the savings box come from Dainik Bhaskar. The Tribune reported ₹360 for the Ladhowal plaza on 15 July 2026, which is press corroboration, not an official notice.
• Not in the PIB release: documents for the annual local pass, the app steps, a crossings cap and a list of eligible plazas. Also missing: whether validity runs twelve months from your purchase date, and whether you may hold this pass and the national annual pass together. Ask at the plaza.
• Gazette text. We did not open the Gazette notification itself. Delhi News Live reported on 27 October 2026 that the Hindi text says 30 km where the English text says 20 km. We could not check this, and PIB says 20 km. If you live between 20 km and 30 km away, confirm the distance at the plaza before you rely on the pass.

Sources and checks

• PIB, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, “Government of India Introduces Concessional Local Pass for National Highway Users Living Near Fee Plazas”, 27 October 2026, retrieved 28 October 2026.
• PIB, “NHAI to Display Monthly and Annual Pass Information at Toll Plazas for National Highway Users”, 24 October 2025, retrieved 28 October 2026.
• PIB, “NHAI to Revise FASTag Annual Pass Fee from 1st April 2026 for FY 2026-27”, 15 March 2026, retrieved 28 October 2026.
• PIB, “Monthly Passes for Toll Plazas at National Highways”, 27 July 2022, retrieved 28 October 2026.
• PIB, “FASTag Based Toll Collection and Digital Tolling System”, 22 July 2026, retrieved 28 October 2026.
• Dainik Bhaskar (Bhaskar News, New Delhi), headline in translation: “Within 20 km of a toll plaza, a yearly pass for ₹1,500 now”. Print clipping supplied to SiOnline and read on 28 October 2026; it shows no printed date and is continued on page 5, which we did not see; secondary source.
• Delhi News Live, report on the new local toll pass rules, 27 October 2026, retrieved 28 October 2026 (press report, cited only for its Gazette-distance claim).
• The Tribune, report on the Ladhowal Toll Plaza fee revision, 15 July 2026, retrieved 28 October 2026 (press corroboration).

Facts on this page were last checked on 28 October 2026. Fees, dates and procedures change; confirm them at the plaza or with NHAI before you pay.