Automobile Graveyards??....It happens only in India !!

 

• How is it happening?

Most of the police stations and RTO offices around you have turned out to be an unofficial dump yards with ageing and rusted vehicles, which are seized over the years. 

These are either seized or forsaken due to

1. Violation of traffic or environment rules
2. Involvement in smuggling or equally horrible activities
3. Absence of legitimate papers
4. Legal cases, where court orders are delayed 
5. Owner refused to accept, due to exorbitant repair cost. 
6. Brutal accident cases, where no claimant is existing 

I have always noticed, this act of capturing/seizing is maximum in India. Our officials are experts in this. When we heard of spot settlement (settlement within 24 hours) in Europe & US, here it is beginning of yet another harassment & public nuisance. 

The big & the unanswered question is.....Why the department is not showing the same alacrity to dispose / discard or even auction the same. You always get the same answer from them, if prompted.... That's not our department.  Even the judiciary is silent in our country. This is yet another example of how the lethargy of our legal system harms the nation.

• Why it is lying there for such a long period..... Who is responsible?

Statistics shows there are more than 1600 vehicles are lying as junk in front of various police stations in Navi-Mumbai alone. This data is only for the past 5 years. Anything above 2010.... only God knows. If you take the case of whole of India... then it is in millions my friends.... Just imagine... In a country like India, millions of vehicles are gathering dust. It is equally amazing to note that some of the vehicles are lying for more than 40 years. Failed to understand why officials are still under siesta, even though most of them are deemed fit for ONLY scrapping. The excuses which comes out are " Police cannot do anything as the cases are not resolved" OR "Since the court cases involving seized vehicles continue for several years, it is mandatory to keep the vehicles as legal evidence" bla bla.....These are terrible statements.  Departments are just passing the bucks.   An average Indian very well knows the minimum time requires for Indian judiciary to settle any case is "a decade".  Do we ever keep dead bodies as legal evidence for all these days. We normally keep postmortem reports. In this digital era, is it required to keep the car physically?  What needs to be done is to preserve the photographs ( from all angles) of such vehicles & the vehicles has to be  moved either to settlement desk, resale dock or scrap yard. Of course there are some situation demanding cases, where some of the vehicles ( that too very few) needs to be preserved. The concerned officials are responsible for keeping those vehicles properly & safe  at suitable places. This should be the right strategy instead of letting them rot as junk for years. 

• Frequently faced problems due to this are 

Such vehicles, which are parked without proper planning and arrangement are creating life hell for most of the pedestrians and motorists. They are occupying the complete road margins, which creates bottlenecks at some prominent places which in turn results in unwanted traffic jams. But the most worrying factor is that they even cause health hazards. During monsoon, these places turns out be breeding center for mosquitoes. For thieves, this is yet another cash cow. Many of such vehicles were even stripped off their parts including batteries, tires & other electrical items. This is also one of the hunting place for commercial sex workers. In addition to occupying valuable space, the delay in taking decisions also reduces it's value to the exchequer due to depreciation. In a nutshell ... our nation is loosing  money.

• How can we can get rid of it?

It is collective responsibility of each of us to spread this awareness through social medias. Let this information reach millions. This is the only way we can keep pressure on the civic body. So friends ... Take a snap & publish it whenever next time you come across any such Motor graveyards....

Let this message reach to our Prime Minister.... I am sure he will certainly act on this & would be glad to include this to his " Swachh Bharat" mission. 

This ONE act can give our PEOPLE more RELIEF ....&... our NATION more MONEY. 

Cheers......Anil Panicker