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Drive to clear over 11,000 seized vehicles from police station premises beings in B'luru
Drive to clear over 11,000 seized vehicles from police station premises beings in B'luru
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Bengaluru, Karnataka Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Wednesday launched a drive to shift over 11,000 seized vehicles from police station premises across the city to seven designated locations, aimed at clearing the premises and easing inconvenience to the public.
The drive was launched from Jayanagar police station limits by the Greater Bengaluru Authority in coordination with the police and revenue department, officials said.
Some vehicles have been there for five, 10 or even 15 years after being seized in connection with various cases, officials said.
Speaking to reporters, Gowda said that they have been identifying long-pending problems in Bengaluru and taking steps to resolve issues that are causing inconvenience to people in their daily lives.
He said that hundreds of vehicles have been lying around every police station for several years. They are getting damaged and rusted, and many of them are in a condition worse than scrap.
Gowda, who holds the Greater Bengaluru Development portfolio, pointed out that people have complained that vehicles parked around police stations are causing inconvenience to their movement. Some have even caught fire.
He said that the garbage around them is also indirectly encouraging illegal activities. Several MLAs and MPs had urged that a permanent solution be found to the issue.
"In coordination with the police and revenue department, we have now launched an operation to clear vehicles that have been seized and have been lying around police stations for decades," he said.
Preparatory meetings were held for the last two months to work out a solution in this regard.
"Since many of these vehicles are involved in court cases, we have suggested that special requests be made to clear them. However, the courts had said that the cases could not be fast-tracked," he said.
According to him, the police department had asked for an alternative space where these vehicles could be parked.
Following the request, a meeting with the revenue department officials was held and they were asked to provide alternative land.
"We approached the revenue department. They provided 26 acres of land at seven locations for the police department to park the seized vehicles there until the cases are disposed of. They are also providing fencing at these locations. We are handing over the custody of these places to the police department and from today the vehicles are being shifted," he said.
Gowda said that there were 11,346 vehicles lying around police stations for long period. Some vehicles are involved in traffic cases, some in accident cases and others in criminal cases. These vehicles cannot be cleared until the court cases concerning them are resolved.
"This is not a problem that has arisen today. It has been a problem for the Police Department for the last 15 to 20 years. We will shift as many of these vehicles as possible within the next one month," he said.
The minister also noted that they had already launched an operation to clear abandoned vehicles parked on public roads and footpaths.
"So far, we have pasted notices on 2,024 vehicles. Those owners who have not come forward to take them back were being towed away. There are also government vehicles that have reached an unusable stage. I have taken note of them, and we will speak to all the concerned departments and undertake a drive to clear those vehicles as well," Gowda added.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
