BENGALURU: After issuing a stern warning to unruly owners against their abandoned vehicles on the roadside, Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Saturday led from the front and initiated towing on unclaimed and abandoned vehicles near Varahi Temple in M D Block, Gandhinagar Assembly Constituency, under the Bengaluru Central City Corporation of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).
As per officials, after the city-wide campaign to paste stickers was flagged off on July 11, in which the minister himself pasted stickers on such vehicles at Queens Road to give one week’s time, on Saturday, the GBA just walked the talk by removing such vehicles from the roadside.
“Such vehicles will be moved to designated locations, and owners will have to pay a heavy penalty to get them back. After 15 days, if the vehicle is still not claimed, the GBA will go for auction of such vehicles,” said Krishna Byre Gowda.
Meanwhile, the Bengaluru Traffic Police Department has come out with data on abandoned vehicles identified through the Astram software so far and stated that it has identified 2,751 such vehicles across the five city corporations. The traffic department also informed that the public, which was given the option to identify and report on such vehicles, identified 1,498. In all, 4,249 vehicles have been identified.
“Across the five city corporations, notices have been affixed to 1,034 abandoned vehicles. So far, owners of 72 vehicles have paid the prescribed penalty and reclaimed their vehicles,” said a senior GBA official.
Central City Corporation Additional Commissioner Venkata Chalapathi, Joint Commissioner Hemanth Sharan, Chief Engineer Vijay Kumar Haridas, and other officials were present on the occasion.
