Karnal, Jan. 20 -- The Bastara toll plaza in Karnal is set to go barrier-free with the installation of the multi-lane free flow (MLFF) tolling system this month, bringing relief from traffic congestion to commuters on the Delhi-Chandigarh highway. Officials said the system would enable seamless electronic toll collection through FASTag and vehicle registration number (VRN) by high-performance radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. Due to the movement of heavy commercial vehicles, particularly during night hours, and buses connecting the national capital with rest of the northern states, the traffic congestion is a usual scene at the toll plaza. Bastara toll manager Mukesh Sharma said installation of the devices is underway, after which the booths and barriers would be removed. It is likely to start functioning by January 26. The MLFF enables seamless toll collection without stopping vehicles at fee plazas, reducing congestion and travel time leading to enhanced fuel efficiency and lowering emissions, while also improving toll revenue collection for the NHAI, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said. The Karnal toll plaza, spread across nearly 500 metres of area on NH-44 (Panipat-Jalandhar), falls under Gharaunda sub-division of the district and is the second such facility in India to be equipped with MLFF. Initially, Choryasi fee plaza in Gujarat on NH-48 was selected as the first barrier-free toll plaza in the country under an agreement between the Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL), a company promoted by the NHAI, and ICICI Bank, to implement MLFF. The agreement was signed in the presence of NHAI chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav and senior officials from NHAI, IHMCL and ICICI Bank at NHAI Headquarters in New Delhi on August 30. Yadav had then said that by leveraging technology, the development would establish the foundation for a more efficient, transparent, and user-friendly tolling ecosystem in operations and will pave the way for its adoption nationwide. The NHAI would implement the system at around 25 NH fee plazas across the country....