Summary:
The civic administration has been directed to provide space for parking the seized vehicles. The expenses for towing and guarding the seized vehicles will have to be recovered from the respective owners.“The vehicles abandoned on the roads or left haphazardly not only cause obstruction to the vehicles passing on the road but also pose threat to the life of the commuters,” reads the government resolution passed in October this year. Aurangabad: Acting on the directives of the Bombay High Court and the state government, the police, Regional Transport Office (RTO) and the civic administration seized over 100 vehicles abandoned on the roadside and public places from the nine wards in the city on Saturday.Civic authorities said that 15 two-wheelers, 23 three-wheelers, 53 four-wheelers comprising cars and jeeps, a tractor, nine heavy vehicles and chassis of a truck were seized.Commissioner of police Chiranjeev Prasad said that authorities, both at the zonal and the police station level, have been directed to coordinate with the civic body and the RTO for the succesful and peaceful completion of the two-day vehicle seizing drive.The state has already issued directives to the police to establish an independent mechanism for dealing with the menace of abandoned vehicles and crack the whip on those leaving vehicles at unauthorized places.The mechanism, which also includes a helpline, has to be established in each of the respective police commissionerates and the superintendent of police jurisdictions, so that alert citizens can complain and even inform the police.The government resolution (GR) directed the police to start an independent helpline number, apart from using platforms like WhatsApp, an independent email address and dial 100 for receiving complaints of abandoned vehicles.The state has also issued directives to initiate action even if the CCTV cameras captured a vehicle being parked in a ‘no parking’ zone or at an unauthorised place.The authorities have been asked make all the relevant details available on the respective websites of the city or district police across the state.The GR also directs police to initiate action against owners of such vehicles under section 82 of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951..