Civic Body Seizes 377 Automobiles In A Fortnight
The Pune Municipal Corporation has started a drive to seize all vehicles which are either abandoned or left unattended on streets. The civic body has confiscated as many as 377 vehicles in the last fortnight.
The anti-encroachment department first puts up notices on all such vehicles urging their owners to remove them. If the owners fail to comply, the vehicles are moved to dump yards.
According to PMC’s estimates, nearly 50,000 unclaimed vehicles are lying in open spaces and on roads across the city. While the Peth areas face the maximum problem of congestion because of such vehicles blocking the carriageway, the problem is citywide. Moreover, hundreds of vehicles are lying at police stations across the city awaiting judgment in the criminal cases in which they were used.
Civic officials said the move will decongest roads, especially those in the Peth areas. Roads cannot be widened in these areas due to space crunch and the abandoned vehicles add to the problem.
“Most of the vehicles left on the roads are usually involved in accidents. Many of the two-wheelers found along the roadsides are stolen ones,” a senior civic official said. They are not only an eyesore, but al- so become bree- ding places for disea- se-cau- sing mosquitoes. Over the years, vandals remove parts of the abandoned vehicles leaving behind just the frames, he added.
The PMC has also started penalising owners who park their vehicles on public places. The fine is expected to act as a deterrent and reduce encroachments on public roads. The town vending committee has approved a penalty struc- ture which ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000. Madhav Jagtap, head of PMC’s anti-encroachment department, said: “We will issue advertisements appealing to owners of seized vehicles to pay the fine. They will get a month’s time to oblige after which the vehicles will be auctioned.”
Apart from leading to traffic snarls, especially on the narrow roads in the city, unattended four-wheelers like cars also raise security concerns. Parked on the roads for months together , they are covered with a thick layer of dust making it diffi – cult to look inside them. Seve – ral such cars parked on the ro – ads have also hampered road widening works in the past.
TIMES VIEW: The Pune Municipal Corporation has finally decided to act against the vehicles abandoned on roads. The civic body should go a step further and come up with a policy to dispose of or crush vehicles which are not sold in the auction. Else, these will get accumulated at the dump yards, creating a new problem. Ward offices should check that the people buying these vehicles have proper parking spaces and do not end up parking them on roads or open plots, defeating the purpose of the initiative.
Source : TOI
