More than two years after abruptly shelving the drive, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has once again rolled up its sleeves to get rid of the roads and other public spaces in the twin-city that have been gobbled by abandoned and unclaimed vehicles.
Toeing the lines of their Mumbai counterparts, the civic administration had launched the drive to clear abandoned vehicles in June 2018. However, a few months later the drive came to a halt. This led to an alarming rise in the number of abandoned vehicles. While junked vehicles could be spotted in every nook and corner of the twin-city, the problem was acute at places including market areas, space below fly-over-bridges, narrow by-lanes and other service roads.
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Apart from creating traffic chaos, and posing a security risk such vehicles were wasting precious parking space and hindering day-to-day cleanliness. Realizing the seriousness of the situation deputy civic chief Ajit Muthe teamed up with the police and traffic department to resume the drive.
“Special squads were deputed to identify and collect data of abandoned vehicles, following which the concerned ward officer carries out an inspection and pastes a notice on the vehicle giving a 48 hour ultimatum to the owner, failing which the team tows it away with the help of traffic and police personnel,” said Muthe.
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While ward officials have pasted notices on 42 vehicles, as many as 30 abandoned vehicles including cars and three-wheelers have been towed away to open grounds belonging to the MBMC in the past couple of days.
“The ward officers should not ignore roadside garages and auto showrooms which illegally park vehicles which not only occupy valuable pedestrian space and also causes traffic chaos,” said opposition leader Prashant Dalvi.
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Apart from monetary fines amounting Rs. 1500 for bikes/ three-wheelers and Rs. 3,000 for 4-wheelers, those found guilty of abandoning vehicles can also be booked under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and the Maharashtra Police Act. Unclaimed vehicles will be handed over to the RTO for further action, officials said.
