Respected Sir

Please do not submit to the pressure tactics, in the form of today's nation-wide bandh etc, of the employees’ unions of government-owned bus transport companies (perhaps, with the tacit support of many politicos who are part of the overall mafia confederation) against the passage of the Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2014, providing for curtailment of the powers of the state-owned companies, and allowing for a more level playing field for private operators, in the operation public bus transport services.

Sir, your Government's move is indeed most welcome, and, in fact, hasn't come a day too soon. Public bus transport services are too vital an infrastructure area to remain constrained by the stranglehold of the state-owned transport companies, which are largely monopolies. It is a well known fact that monopolies can rarely be efficient, more particularly so, when they are government-owned.

The existing scenario has led to serious traffic congestion problems in cities, and mobility problems in the rural areas too, adversely affecting the economy of the country, as a whole, in multiple ways.

Because of the "license-permit raaj" that has prevailed all these years, it has been only the Blue-line (of Delhi) kind of operators that have generally been in the picture, this in turn earning the entire private sector a bad name. For that to change, the "raaj" has to be dismantled, and the entry of reputed players facilitated, all under the oversight of a duly constituted and empowered regulatory body. This bill provides for exactly that.

Efficiency, resulting out of competition, under the watchful eye of the regulator, will provide for a check on the fares too, allowing for an overall reduction in the monthly transport bill of the common man. Besides, it will greatly benefit the genuine workers too, who are today at the mercy of the union mafioso, formed largely of the "labour aristocracy".

Apart from all of that, it is also time the citizens came together to demand an end their being held to ransom through these bandhs, by the unionists, who are only bothered about furthering thier vested interests.

As such, Sir, I am hereby requesting you once again to push for immediate passage of the bill in the Parliament, and issual of directions to the state governments, thereafter, for early implementation of the provisions.

Thanking you,

Yours truly, Muralidhar Rao

The matter (more specifically pertaining to Bengaluru, though it has commonality to most cities and states) has been debated at length on PRAJA, all of which may be accessed here