Dear Shri Mohsin avare,

This is regarding the Draft of the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority Act. I am writing to you on behalf of the Hasiru Usiru network.

We would like to commend the DULT for moving to create a unified transport authority. The creation of such an authority is a real need right now. We would also like to commend you for pro-actively arranging a public consultation to discuss the same.

To ensure that the act is people friendly and so that people get a genuine chance to shape this act, we would like to request you to –

1)Grant more time for the public to review and respond .
We feel this extension is essential because this is the first time such an authority is being created for Bangalore and it is important that this act and its implications are reviewed thoroughly. This act covers not juts BBMP areas but the whole of the Bangalore Metropolitan region. There has been very little effort at seeing the mobility of this whole region together earlier and since this is a first effort, this must be carefully reviewed.

We would like the deadline to be extended till March 15, 2010.

2)Provide printed copies of the act in Kannada
English is not accessible by many people in the Bangalore Metropolitan Region and it is imperative that any new law or act needs to be made available in Kannada . Till such time this copy is provided, please do not close the window for feedback.

3)Arrange for statutory public consultations in all the impacted areas
Since this act impacts the mobility needs and city development of 19 ULBs (including BBMP), 338 Gram Panchayats 12 Taluk
Panchayats, 2 Zilla Panchayats, people in all these areas must get a chance to review the act and provide feedback.

4)Ensure that public consultations have the participation of elected representatives
This includes the MLAs of Bangalore district and all the elected representatives of the impacted local bodies(urban and rural). All impacted local bodies must discuss this act too and provide their feedback. Since this also impacts BBMP areas greatly, it would be essential that an elected BBMP council discusses this act and passes on its feedback too.

5)Ensure that the act is finalised only after the steps 1 to 4 mentioned above are undertaken – extension of timeline, translation into Kannada, required public consultations and discussions with elected representatives need to happen before the act is finalised.

Request you to please respond favourably to our demands.

Thanks,
Vinay Sreenivasa,
on behalf of Hasiru Usiru ⊕