In Ahmedabad, owners dump seized vehicles as fine exceeds bike price!

AHMEDABAD: When fine or pending tax is hefty, owners would rather dump the vehicle than claim it. That's probably the biggest reason the Ahmedabad traffic branch office at Mithakhali is turning into a dumpyard of rusty and dusty vehicles that fail to bring the owners to claim them despite multiple notices shot to them over the year.
In fact, the 150-odd vehicles junked all over the open space of the traffic branch office are an eyesore as much for the visitors as for the officials who confess that claiming any vehicle and getting it repaired for use will cost the owner nothing short of Rs 25,000-Rs 50,000. Obviously, the owners have decided not to stake any claim of ownership.
Deputy commissioner of police, traffic (administration), Tejas Patel said that 120-odd vehicles are those seized by police for non-payment of RTO tax or towed away for illegal parking or non-payment of traffic fines imposed. Most of these are two wheelers--motorcycles and scooters while some are three wheelers, merely one or two four wheelers.
All these vehicles have been unclaimed for more than six years now. The outstanding tax or fine on each vehicle is anywhere between Rs 10,000 and Rs 30,000. We suspect that owners choose to ignore notices for claiming these vehicles as they would rather buy a new vehicle than pay the fine and then spend Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 more on repairs to use the same,” said Deputy commissioner of police, traffic (administration), Tejas Patel .
It needs mention that new bikes and scooters cost anywhere between Rs 45,000-70,000 and can be bought with a downpayment of Rs 10,000, say sources.
Auction of unclaimed vehicles has not been organized for the past six years citing `technical reasons'. With the mountain of junk vehicles growing, the traffic department has finally decided to hold an auction to sell them off. "We are in the process of categorizing the vehicles and doing requisite court procedure to pave way for an auction shortly," said Patel.