Awani reported the minister as saying that the toll exemption will start at midnight tonight and end at 11.59pm on Sunday.

The exemptions are applicable to all classes of vehicles at all toll plazas except those at the country’s borders, that is, the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar and Tanjung Kupang toll plazas in Johor.

The government had recently announced that it had approved unrecorded leave for Deepavali for Hindu civil servants on Nov 14 (Tuesday) in states that observe Sunday as their weekend rest day.

However, public service director-general Zulkapli Mohamed said in the circular that the matter was still subject to acceptance by the respective authorities.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints are expecting “very heavy traffic” until Nov 14, according to its Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

The ICA attributes the anticipated congestion to the long Deepavali weekend and the year-end school holidays.