Mumbai: In order to de-clog the streets and ensure free flow of traffic, as many as 14,461 abandoned vehicles (khataraas) were removed from the city roads in the past four months by the Mumbai traffic police. The drive was conducted by 50 traffic chowkies across the city and started after former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey took initiative and instructed them to remove such vehicles.
The traffic police have picked up the vehicles and handed those over to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) which has retained the khataras on empty plots at ward level and started the process to auction the vehicles.
The 14,461 vehicles, which include two-wheelers, auto-rickshaws and four-wheelers, were removed from March 6 to July 2. Maximum abandoned vehicles 6,144 were found in the west region spread from Santacruz to Dahisar, followed by the east region, which comprises the areas from Ghatkopar to Mulund and in which police found 3,383 vehicles abandoned on roads.
Lesser number of abandoned and scrapped vehicles were found on roads in the central region – from Worli to Kurla and Bandra and Khar areas. In the south region which ranges from Colaba to Nagpada and Wadala, police removed 2,973 abandoned vehicles – mostly private four-wheelers – from roads, said a traffic police officer.
“We are putting in all efforts to check on such abandoned vehicles and till now more than 14,000 vehicles have been towed away, said additional commissioner of police Mahesh Patil of the traffic division, adding that the drive will continue and called upon people to approach the traffic police if they notice any abandoned vehicle parked for more than a week on any road.
“This is a major concern as people leave their old vehicles on roads and cause hindrance in the free flow of traffic,” said senior police inspector Jagdish Shinde of the Worli traffic division.
The traffic police put up a 24-hour’s notice on the vehicles found to be abandoned or left on roads for over a week before removing them and also try to search the owners through their registration numbers and intimate them. “If the vehicle owners do not respond then it was removed and handed over to the BMC,” said a traffic official.
Assistant commissioner of police Anant Bhagwatkar, removal of encroachment department, shared, “The auctioning process of the vehicles has already started and in the last few months, we have auctioned more than 5,000 abandoned vehicles, removed by the traffic police and BMC officials. The auction happens on ward level and 12 to 13 wards have been done across the city.”
Bhagwatkar also added that before the auction, we informed the RTO, Yellow Gate police station and city police to verify if the vehicles are attached in any criminal case. If the vehicle is not related to any court case and the actual owners do not claim them, then we start the auction process of the vehicle.