Cops fail to dispose of seized vehicles

THE RESULT Police stations in the city are fast being transformed into scrap yards

CBD BELAPUR: Vehicles that have been recovered or seized by the Navi Mumbai police seem to be gathering dust at police stations.

Despite clear guidelines on how these vehicles must be returned to the owner within the stipulated time after getting necessary permissions from a court, carelessness on the part of officials has failed to see any action being taken.

In fact, sources at these police stations claimed that police officials do not even bother looking for the owner of a vehicle since it is time consuming. However, rules also state that if there are no claimants for the vehicles, they can be auctioned. Neither of these practices appears to be followed in the city.

Official apathy to dispose of these seized vehicles has transformed the sprawling premises of Turbhe, Nerul and Rabale police stations into junk yards.

For the ones that do not have the advantage of large compounds, such as APMC and Vashi police stations, seized bikes, cars and trucks are just parked along the road.

The traffic snarls they cause, are ignored by authorities. Further, a number of parked vehicles have also been reduced to scrap as spare parts are often stolen from them.

Pratap Sawant, a Vashi resident said, “There is little space for motorists who come to the police station to park or even for visitors at the nearby community centre or the hospital.”

“A few years ago, several vehicles were damaged in a fire that broke out there,” added Sawant.