BENGALURU: Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), which launched a drive to clear unclaimed vehicles on the roadside two weeks ago and started towing from last week, managed to remove only 54 such vehicles across five city corporations.
As per the GBA Chief Commissioner, so far 5,133 such vehicles have been identified through a joint operation by GBA and Bangalore Traffic Police, as well as through public complaints.
“We have pasted stickers on 1,300 such vehicles and in the coming days, the process will be intensified to paste more stickers and remove the vehicles. As the primary focus is SIR and most of the officials are involved in this massive task, the initiative is going a bit slow. In the coming days, a target will be set, and such vehicles will be removed,” said a senior GBA official.
According to the officials, 2,367 cases of unclaimed vehicles are from a survey by traffic police and GBA, which is published under Actionable Intelligence for Sustainable Traffic Management (ASTRAM), an AI-driven technology to track traffic violations by traffic police, while 2,766 cases have been reported by the public to GBA and traffic police.
Earlier, Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda had stated that a penalty of Rs 500 will be fixed for the first offence, and will be doubled. If the owners fail to turn up after 15 days, GBA will auction such vehicles.
Meanwhile, the move by the minister and GBA has been appreciated on social media platforms and by residents of Bengaluru and daily commuters who have faced inconvenience due to unclaimed vehicles parked on public roads. Residents have expressed concern over safe walking, eyesores, hygiene and health issues as many such vehicles pave the way for blackspots and turn into hideouts for rodents.