NDA ally PMK describes proposed road transport and safety bill as 'black legislation'

Slamming NDA government's proposed Road Transport and Safety Bill 2014 as a "black legislation" favouring corporates, BJP's Tamil Nadu ally PMK on Friday extended its support to the one-day strike called for by trade unions against it on April 30, 2015.

"The central government should drop this black legislation that will take away the powers of the state governments and the rights of the people and present them in a platter to the private companies," PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss said. PMK will support the strike, Ramadoss, the party's Youth Wing President and also Dharmapuri MP, said in a statement.

The Draft Bill, aimed at replacing the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, will "take away" all the powers of the state government with a newly constituted Motor Vehicle Regulation and Road Safety Authority of India which will have powers on matters like fixing and collecting vehicle taxes, registration and issuance of permits, he said. "These functions will not be executed directly by the proposed authority. Instead the authority will operate through private companies," he said.

He expressed fears that Regional Transport Offices, where new vehicles are registered, would be henceforth closed and that vehicle manufactures themselves would register them, which could result in hefty increase in registration fees. Further, the new bill would make "all existing licences invalid," causing "unncessary expenditure and scramble" to get new ones, he claimed.