Mumbai: Amboli cops seize and desist vehicles

The old vehicles dotting the street have been seized by the Amboli police station, located in the same area

The Patel Estate road in Jogeshwari West looks nothing short of a dumping ground. mid-day visited the lane on Friday, after some residents contacted the paper with their complaints, and found confiscated vehicles strewn along the street.

A streak of vehicles, covered in layers of dust and rust, has been left haphazardly on both the sides of the stretch, making for an unbearably ugly sight. Some have been double parked, consuming a chunk of the road and depriving the space of the parking of active vehicles. While the residents say the issue is getting on their nerves, cops say they are trying their best to move the cars at the earliest. The residents got in touch with mid-day after the paper threw light on abandoned vehicles clogging the streets of Bandra. Fed up of the mess, some locals had even taken their grievances to Twitter last month. However, weeks later, nothing seems to have been done. The old vehicles dotting the street have been seized by the Amboli police station, located in the same area, in various cases. The mess is so terrible that some of these cars also occupy space in front of a popular eatery.

Residents blame cops
Explaining the beginning of the mess, Mahen Vora, a resident of Mihir building, said, "It initially started in the periphery of the police station, before extending further. Now it seems to have no end." "It is a massive inconvenience, as these confiscated cars are strewn all over the lane. With the crap on the road, the aesthetics are lost," said another resident, Gulam Zia. His friend Ramesh Patel added, "There is so much dirt that it is cringe worthy. With the rain, the mess will only escalate." The locals claim their plaints have fallen on deaf ears. "I have also been tweeting to the police with our issue, but nothing has been done so far," said Aditya Bagadia, a local, adding, "There is a lot of garbage and insects under these vehicles. Many of these cars are now being dumped into double parking too."

'Trying our level best'
When asked about the mess, Amboli cops said they were looking for a solution, "The police station does not have space. Our aim is to return these vehicles to their owners. Along with the ward officer, we are trying our level best to get a place for these vehicles at the earliest. We are trying to ensure the residents aren't troubled in anyway. As soon as we have a space, we will move them," said senior police inspector Bharat Gaikwad. "The towed or confiscated vehicles are with us for six months to a year. If the owner comes to us, we return it to them, else we write a letter to the BMC about them. The vehicles confiscated by the police are under their control. We cannot do anything about those," said an official from the DN Nagar traffic station, under whose jurisdiction the area falls.

Prashant Gaikwad, the ward officer of the area, was unavailable for comment. mid-day contacted the area's current corporator Raju Pednekar, but he did not respond. Former corporator of the area Changez Multani said, "I had given it in writing long ago, but never received any response. These vehicles are kept in residential areas, narrowing the size of the road available. Authorities must look into this immediately."

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