A letter to Nitin Gadkari from a harassed commuter

by June 17, 2015 Commute
A citizen writes to the Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, urging him to help negotiate a pact with Karnataka, to put an end to the harassment of non-KA registered vehicle owners by RTO officials.

Touts stopping non-KA registered vehicles opposite Kadugodi police station on June 8th 2015. Pic: Waseem Memon

 

Dear Sir,

At the outset, let me express my sincerest thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet me in Nagpur on May 17th 2015. You gave me a patient hearing and assured me that my concerns with regards to freedom of movement of motor vehicles across all states, shall be addressed in the New Motor Vehicles Bill to be tabled soon in the Parliament.

While we may still be able to Drive Without Borders across states, I believe we may need to add Republic of Karnataka (RoK) as a signatory to the Motor Vehicles Pact inked recently amongst Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal. The BBIN pact needs to be expanded to BBINRoK pact.

As a citizen of Republic of Karnataka, I am forced to reach out to you because the Government of the Republic of Karnataka does not seem to want vehicles from the Union of India to ply in their Republic. I am not very well-versed in diplomatic relations between the Union of India and the Republic of Karnataka. I only hope that your good office would be able to negotiate a pact with the Republic, enabling vehicles from the Union of India to ply in the Republic of Karnataka without fear of being clamped down upon by over-zealous RTO officials.

Thanking you.

Regards,

An aggrieved citizen from the Republic of Karnataka

Related Articles

An open letter to the Transport Commissioner
Crackdown on non-KA registered vehicles to begin soon?
Non-Karnataka vehicle owners burdened by high re-registration fee in Bangalore, ask CM to rationalise rules

Sections:

About Waseem Memon

Read more by Waseem Memon

Comments:

  1. Deepanshu Kalra says:
    June 18, 2015 at 7:57 am

    Shame!

    Reply
  2. skeptic says:
    June 18, 2015 at 8:43 am

    Please don’t trouble the ministers, they have to deal with so many problems, a commuter’s plea is the last thing on their mind. Plus, you made an error: It is Republic of the Corrupt, not Republic of Karnataka.

    Reply
  3. Naresh Giddi says:
    June 19, 2015 at 6:35 am

    Looters

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Similar Story

Out of reach: Chennai’s informal settlements lack safe and accessible bus shelters

by October 31, 2026 Commute
MTC is expanding its fleet but an analysis found that 41% of Chennai slum settlements lack nearby bus shelters. Here’s what needs to change.

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) serves as the backbone of Chennai's urban mobility, carrying millions of residents every day and accounting for over 70% of the city's public transport share. As the transport utility expands its fleet with new buses and renovates shelters across Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) limits, evaluating the accessibility of this mode of public transit becomes important, especially around access points near the city’s informal settlements.  To what extent does the MTC bus shelter network provide accessible and adequate service to slum settlements? And, where should improvements be prioritised? That forms the basis of this study, which…

Continue reading

Similar Story

Draft GBA Parking Rules: Fixing the problem or making it worse?

by September 9, 2026 Commute
In a panel on Bengaluru's parking rules, experts explain how the clauses prioritise revenue generation and supply over mobility. Watch the video here.

The Urban Development Department published the draft Greater Bengaluru Authority (Parking) Rules, 2026 on August 11 and opened it up to the public to give suggestions and file objections. This draft is the legal framework meant to strengthen Bengaluru's Parking Policy 2.0, introduced by the Directorate of Urban Land Transport in Feb 2021. When the parking policy was first brought in, the idea was to discourage the use personal vehicles and free up road space to ensure better mobility. However, the draft rules mostly focus on creating paid on-street parking zones, off-street parking on corporation land, leasing vacant private plots to run…

Continue reading