The hike in vehicle towing fines in September last year is resulting in a windfall for the Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) as more contractors are coming forward to register with the police to tow illegally parked vehicles.
In eastern areas of the city, which include the Central, East and South-East sub-divisions, a whopping 27,955 cars were towed during the first five months of this year. The figure for 2016 was around 12,000. The increase was because of the many more vehicles that are now available to tow cars. Earlier, in the absence of towing vehicles with hydraulic lifts, BTP was forced to focus on two-wheelers.
“Our officers are focusing on cars since we have the capability now. Towing a car rather than a two-wheeler away is much more effective in freeing up traffic as cars take up more space. The increase in towing charges has also been a factor in the record numbers,” said Abhishek Goyal, DCP Traffic (East).
With several of the city’s busiest areas such as Indiranagar, Wilson Garden, Halasuru, M.G. Road and the Central Business District (CBD) areas such as Highgrounds, Sadashivanagar and others located in the East division, illegal parking is a nightmare for the traffic police. “Towing has generally increased in all areas since we have hiked the fines. Contractors, who earlier were reluctant to sign up are now registering with us and being allotted police stations based on the availability of officers to conduct towing operations,” said R. Hitendra, Additional Commissioner Police, Traffic.
Across the city, a total of 81,177 vehicles were towed away till April. To put this in perspective, a total of 79,340 towing cases were registered for the whole of 2016. In the coming days, traffic police officers will focus on clearing high density roads and those in the CBD as well as the ring roads.
‘Not following procedure’
However, several vehicle owners say that the towing officers were not sticking to the set procedures. “They are going overboard with towing vehicles. My car was towed right in front of me and I tried to stop them to pay the spot fine and get my car released. They wouldn’t even stop. There was no announcement also,” complained G.N. Latha. A video released by the BTP a few months ago states that vehicle owners who reach the spot before the towing vehicle moves away can pay a spot fine of ₹100.
Police officers said they were currently focusing on areas where paid parking was available nearby and motorists still parked illegally only to save the parking fee. “We are aware that parking spaces are few but in areas where parking space is available, we are increasing our drives. People must make use of designated parking spots,” a senior police official said.
Transport vehicles on the radar
Taking note of the traffic jams caused by passenger transport vehicles in and around tech parks on the ring roads, the traffic police is now on the lookout for towing contractors who have the equipment to tow larger vehicles such as tempo travellers – a popular medium passenger vehicle used widely in the city.
“There are many complaints of drivers of these vehicles parking in long lines particularly on the Outer Ring Road. We want to tow these vehicles away as well and are looking for contractors who have the capability to tow them. Once enough of them register with us, we shall begin operations,” said R. Hitendra, Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic.
