Mumbai police to seize vehicles which ply on wrong side of road

The anti-wrong side driving campaign was started on March 6 by Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey, who had asked officials to take action against motorists for wrong-side driving and to remove abandoned vehicles from roads after getting several complaints by residents and senior citizens.

The Mumbai Traffic Police will soon start seizing the vehicles of motorists caught for wrong side driving. The warning has been issued after the number of FIRs pertaining to wrong side driving did not dip since the anti-wrong side driving campaign was started by the police on March 6.

The Mumbai Traffic Police will soon start seizing the vehicles of motorists nabbed for wrong side driving. (HT PHOTO.)

Till March 31, around 2,649 FIRs have been registered against motorists for driving on the wrong side. The drive was started on March 6 by Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey, who had asked officials to take action against motorists for wrong-side driving and to remove abandoned vehicles from roads after getting several complaints by residents and senior citizens.

According to police officials, on an average each day they have been registering at least 200 FIRs seeing which Pandey, had tweeted that if the numbers do not go down, the police will be instructed to seize the vehicle of the driver. “Till now we were not impounding the vehicles of the motorists who were caught driving on the wrong side, however, it has been observed that even after 25 days of the drive being started, people have not learnt their lesson,” said a senior police officer from the Mumbai traffic police department.

For driving in the wrong direction, the police book a motorist under Indian Penal Code Sections 279 (rash driving) and 336 (endangering life or personal safety of others).

After Pandey was appointed the Mumbai police commissioner last month, he had asked officials in the department to take action against traffic norm violators, hawkers and builders who create noise pollution, and to remove abandoned vehicles from roads.