3103 Cases of Illegal Parking make Traffic Police Dept Rs 23 Lakh Rich in Towing Fees
3103 Cases of Illegal Parking booked between March and June 2019 make Traffic Police Dept Rs 23 Lakh Rich in Towing Fees in 3 Months
Mangaluru : If the Mangaluru Traffic Police department since its inception in March 2019 had made Rs 6 lakh by April 2019, it is now learnt that between March-June 2019 the traffic police department has earned Rs 23,81,850 through towing fees of illegal parked cases booked on 3103 violators. Gone are those days, when motorists who knowingly used to park their vehicles in unauthorized parking zones, and would get away by paying a mere Rs 100 fine, which is less than a bottle of beer -not anymore! Beginning of 2 March 2019, as a New Year gift to traffic violators, the Mangaluru City Traffic police had started towing vehicles parked illegally. Not only the illegally vehicles were towed to the police station, the violator was liable for a hefty fine- Rs 1600 for heavy four-wheeler vehicles, Rs 1350 for medium 4-wheelers, Rs 1100 fine for light four-wheelers, and Rs 750 for two-wheelers, which includes Rs 100 parking violation fine.
Even though the towing by the City traffic cops have received lots of criticism from motorists, but they have no other option when they receive a bunch of calls from citizens during the Police Commissioner’s Friday Phone-In programme, regarding vehicles parked haphazardly at every nook and corner of the City. But what’s strange is that in spite of hefty fines/towing fees slapped by the cops on violators, has not taught motorists not to park their vehicles anywhere they want . This initiative of towing should have been implemented by the traffic police long ago, but anyways, as they say ‘Better Late Than Never’, the Towing idea by the police have serve the purpose, and has now earned them good income!
Started with just one towing vehicle initially on 2 March, now the traffic police dept has three towing vehicles serving the North, South, East and West Traffic Police Stations. During the recent phone-in prgramme on Friday, Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil said, “We had taken this initiative to crack down on illegal parking and also to ensure smooth movement of traffic and for the safety of the pedestrians. We have been receiving several calls from citizens about vehicles parked illegally during the phone-in programme, and also at our police control room. Therefore, we had to take this initiative in towing the haphazard parked vehicles. Illegal parked Vehicles will be towed to the nearby traffic police station, from the location where the vehicle was towed. And if they want to know where their vehicle has been towed to, they can call 100 or police control room at 0824 222 0800 and get the necessary information”.
If you look around Mangaluru, on all the widened road done recently for the easy movement of traffic, however the side portion of these roads are taken by illegally parked vehicles. So what good is to have the road widened, if it doesn’t serve the needed purpose. Finally, with so many complaints pouring into the police department regarding illegal parking of vehicles, its nice to note that the traffic police have taken this towing decision- and it has worked, bringing awareness among the traffic violators.
