Motorists who park their vehicles, by breaking the rules, are more likely to see their cars towed and impounded.
Buoyed by the initial success of their drive against illegal parking, the city’s traffic police have decided to increase their vigilance and come down heavily on motorists adding to road congestion.
With more towing contractors coming forward to sign up with them, the police aim to increase the number of vehicles towed per day from the current 400 to a little more than 700. This includes both four- and two-wheelers.
According to senior officials, this renewed vigilance is possible because of recent increase in fines as well as towing charges.
“This has attracted more towing companies who now want to work with us,” said a senior official. Private towing contractors had been asking for a hike to compensate for increased fuel costs.
The drive has already had an impact on parking in some areas in the busy Central Business District.
“People have understood that we will not tolerate illegal parking. When they realise that we will tow their vehicles away, many have stopped parking illegally. In the coming days we will be intensifying our towing drives across the 12 high density corridors identified by the government and no illegal parking will be allowed,” said Additional Commissioner of Police R Hitendra.
However, despite the traffic police’s optimism, streets free of illegally parked vehicles are a distant dream.
Till October this year, the Traffic Police booked nearly 20 lakh cases under four sub-heads dealing with wrong parking. This is around 27 per cent of the total of over 74 lakh cases booked for various offences.
