BENGALURU: The city police is gearing up to act against those who leave their cars abandoned on the roadside. Facing complaints from residents who say these vehicles cause inconvenience by blocking roads, traffic cops will begin towing them away from next month.
The traffic police are trying to track down these vehicle owners, and have been issuing notices to them. Devaraj Gowda, a resident of Amruthahalli, said that over 20 vehicles lie abandoned in his neighbourhood. “The vehicles, some of which were left by a garage owner, have been lying there for more than a year. I complained to the police and BBMP officials, but nobody has shown up so far. The garage owner has not bothered to get them repaired or sell them as scrap.”
However, tracking down the owners is not an easy task. A police officer from Basavanagudi traffic police station said, “When our staff went to issue notices to the owners, some of them were not available at their registered address. Abandoned vehicles create many problems as some of them are parked on the footpath or in playgrounds. Some of them may have been stolen and left behind after being stripped of anything valuable. Others may have been used to commit crimes.”
Umesh H C, a resident of Jayanagar 9th Block, said there are 30 abandoned vehicles at 38th Cross, near East-End main road. “They have been left there for over two years,” he added.
Even the police face shortage of space and have to park cars and bikes involved in accidents in and around traffic police stations. Selvan Barito, a resident of Gokula Extension, said, “The traffic police have abandoned four vehicles involved in accidents in Sadashivanagar. Despite residents’ requests to tow them away, no one has bothered.”
P Harishekaran, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said, “The drive to rid the city of abandoned vehicles is underway and we are issuing notices in all traffic divisions. We will tow all these vehicles by April and auction it according to court orders.”