Bengaluru To Tow Auction Abandoned Vehicles Parked On Footpaths After 7 Day Notice

Written by Sara Raghav Two days before the ‘Safe Footpath’ campaign was scheduled to end, the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) on Wednesday informed that the civic agency will start a special drive beginning Friday to remove abandoned vehicles parked on pavements. The GBA said the five corporations under it and the traffic police will jointly undertake the drive. GBA Chief Commissioner M Maheshwara Rao said notices will be pasted on abandoned vehicles, granting owners seven days to remove the vehicles. If the vehicles are not removed within the 7-day notice period, they will be towed and seized by the authorities. All seized vehicles will subsequently be put up for public auction as per Section 324 of the GBA Act, 2024. The owners of those vehicles will have to visit their respective jurisdictional police stations and pay a fine if they want their vehicles to be released before auction. Rao stated that no claims will be entertained once a vehicle is auctioned. “All citizens are hereby advised to take immediate note of this information. If you have left any of your vehicles unattended on public streets or open spaces, you are strictly instructed to shift them to your respective private property immediately to avoid confiscation and subsequent public auction,” he added. Last month, Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda remarked that footpaths are not meant for parking vehicles and warned that erring vehicles will be towed away. The minister said, “The Supreme Court had clearly stated that the right to walk on a footpath is a fundamental right of every citizen, and had directed all local bodies across states to implement this.” Citing traffic police data, the minister said 30 per cent of every 1,000 road accident deaths reported in Bengaluru are pedestrians. Gowda had directed officials to clear all shops and obstructions to pave the way for smooth pedestrian movement on at least 2,000 km of priority roads. On Wednesday, the eighth day of the ‘Safe Footpath’ campaign, the GBA said that it had cleared 432km of footpath across the city. Meanwhile, the Karnataka Progressive Street Vendors Union, Karunadu Street Vendors’ Organisations Federation, Nava Karnataka State Street Vendors’ Union, Street Vendors’ Union, Roadside Vendors Federation, and the Karnataka Women Street Vendors Association Federation, which cumulatively represent two lakh street vendors, have also demanded that the government provide compensation to victims of the eviction drive. (Sara Raghav is an intern with The Indian Express)