Police stations turn graveyard of vehicles in Mohali

MOHALI: If you mistake a police station for a garage in Mohali, you can be forgiven. You are probably not the only one. Almost every visitor may be sharing this thought when they find scores of rundown vehicles gobbling every little empty space and staring back at them with rusted and rotting bodies.
These vehicles have been seized in accident, fraud, robbery, theft and other civil and criminal cases.Those impounded for traffic and other violations are also resting at the police stations, some for decades.
“Even after cases have been settled, people are not willing to take their vehicles back. One has to go to the court to obtain a release order. I think the vehicles have been lying here since 1992,” said a police official at the Phase I police station, where around 350 vehicles have been parked, providing an ugly sight. One of the police officials said, “The count of two-wheelers is more as they are seized under Section 207 of the Motor Vehicle Act when the owner doesn’t have proper documents. In theft cases, owners do not want to take back their vehicles after they had been recovered. They simply refuse to claim them as the vehicles have lost their utility to time.” Still, these vehicles manage to attract thieves, who prefer taking their batteries and wheels if they are in a good condition.
Auctions are held to dispose of the vehicles once the case has settled. However, the authorities have not auctioned the vehicles since 2006, when Mohali was established as a district. “Although an auction of old government vehicles took place just two months back, none has been conducted for case property vehicles,” sources said. SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal was unaware that whether auctions have taken place or not. “I will check and let you know,” he added.
According to officials, many times in NDPS cases, the only solution is to auction the vehicle. Even vehicles impounded in drinking and driving by the traffic officials are parked at the 19 police stations in the district. “Though they are released the next day, they still occupy space, said an official.
At the Zirakpur police station, vehicles are parked on the footpath, hindering the way and causing traffic jams. Sohana police station, the only modern police station of the district which was recently shifted to Sector 79, is also using its spacious basement parking for unclaimed two-wheelers.
A station house officer suggested the courts give a judgment on the issue. “Around 10 years ago, I remember the courts used to have judicial malkhanas, where these vehicles were parked and the police stations were empty, but now they are our headache.”
The situation is a tad better in Chandigarh and Panchkula. The UT sends impounded vehicles to Sector 29 traffic Office or Sector 23 Children Traffic Park, even as those considered as case properties lie at its stations. In Panchkula, impounded vehicles are sent to the traffic police lines in Sector 25.