Bengaluru :

The IT City is a gateway of opportunities for many – corporate professionals, students, interns. No wonder, it’s home to a large floating population. But if you stretch your visit beyond a month and bring your vehicle along, you may be in for more than teething troubles.

If you use a vehicle with a non-Karnataka registration number for more then 30 days, you’ll have to shell out a bomb as road tax. For example, if your car costs Rs 20 lakh, you’ll have to pay 25% as tax, which amounts to Rs 5 lakh. Two Facebook groups have now become the epicentre for the fight against this draconian law, a cause of concern for owners of out-of-state vehicles. The man behind the movement, Waseem Memon, has quit his job to concentrate on the campaign. The crusaders seek the right to drive without fear, anywhere in the country.

Memon’s personal mobile number has now become a toll-free number for those in trouble with RTO officials.

He runs Facebook groups ‘Justice for non-KA registration vehicle owners’ and ‘Drive without borders’ (since 2014). The former clinical researcher has taken up the cause on a full-time basis. “Both groups, which have more than 50,000 members, are battling several court cases in multiple states, including Karnataka. We’ve had success in Telangana and are hoping to replicate it here too,” he said.

In 1998, Memon moved to Andhra Pradesh from Karnataka, with a KA registration vehicle. He moved on to Maharashtra and then returned to Hyderabad with an MH registration vehicle. He was pulled up by authorities. In 2010, when he moved back to Bengaluru after his numerous corporate stints, he landed in soup for owning a non-Karnataka vehicle. That’s when he decided he’d had enough.

“Although we started the fight with a Facebook page, we are doing much more. Every month, we hold meetings which are attended by people who face this problem. I get at least 30 calls every day from harried users. Our Facebook pages are flooded with grievances,” said Memon, for whom threat calls have become a norm.

The question Memon and his team want to ask the authorities is when technology parks and IT parks are coming up across the country, which require professionals to relocate frequently, why are these laws in place? “Our goal is one nation, one road tax. And we believe we’re getting close to that,” he pointed out.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru / by Arun Dev, TNN / June 02nd, 2015