No parking here, residents to cops

Pile up: Over 4,000 vehicles have been seized in the past six months.
Representation pic

With over 200 seized vehicles parked outside each traffic police station in the city, residents are now complaining that the cops are even occupying footpaths and parks outside their respective stations. Various resident welfare associations have written to the Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Praveen Sood asking him to look into the matter. Several associations have complained that instead of solving the issue, more vehicles are being steadily dumped in their localities during the past six months.

"There are two-wheelers lying outside the traffic police station in our area since the last four years. We have requested the cops to move or dispose of them, but were told to mind our own business," said Imran Khan, a resident of Ulsoor.

Can't be helped
Police officials from various stations offered varied justifications to this reporter regarding why the vehicles were still around. The police inspector from the Whitefield police station, from where the number of complaints seems to be concentrated, claims that the disposal procedure is lengthy. "The paper work takes a long time and procedures have to be followed. The time taken to solve cases vary since it all depends on the owners of vehicles producing the documents before a decision can be reached."

Meanwhile traffic police stations at Electronic City, Sadashiva Nagar, Ulsoor, High Grounds, Cubbon Park, KR Puram, HSR Layout, Banaswadi and Shivaji Nagar are battling for space. "We have collected information from the main traffic office and as per law the cops are supposed to close cases as soon as possible. There is a huge mess in the public park in our area and it is occupied by rag pickers who steal and sell vehicle parts during the night," R Raghavendra, a resident of Banaswadi said.

Not our job
B A Muttana, DCP, Traffic (East) explained, "Our job is only to seize the vehicles and then trace the owner. Once they submit the documents, we hand over the vehicle to them. The law and order department of the Bangalore Police handles cases of seized vehicles that no one comes to claim." A round up of cases filed at traffic police stations in the city reveals that over 4,000 vehicles have been seized in the past six months. While only 20 per cent of these vehicles were found to be involved in criminal cases, the rest have been seized under minor offences.

"We have been informed about a growing number of vehicles being seized. There is no space to park these vehicles till the owner comes to claim them and hence, we end up occupying public space." Muttana said.

Auctions soon
However, immediate instructions will be issued to all police stations to close these cases or hold auctions as soon as possible. Usually when the number of vehicles increases, we get permission to auction from the court, which we will seek shortly," said Additional Commissioner of Police T Suneel Kumar.

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