Traffic Police Earn Rs 6 Lakhs from Towing Fees in Just One Month?
Mangaluru: Gone are those days, when motorists who knowingly used to park their vehicles in unauthorized parking zones, and would get away by paying a mere Rs 100 fine, which is less than a bottle of beer -not anymore! Beginning of March 2019, as a New Year gift to traffic violators, the Mangaluru City Traffic police had started towing vehicles parked illegally,a s of 2 March 2019. Not only the illegally vehicles were towed to the police station, the violator was liable for a hefty fine- Rs 1600 for heavy four-wheeler vehicles, Rs 1350 for medium 4-wheelers, Rs 1100 fine for light four-wheelers, and Rs 750 for two-wheelers, which includes Rs 100 paring violation fine.
Even though such hefty fines would have at least taught motorists not to park their vehicles anywhere they want, but it seems like motorists give a damn about it. This initiative should have been implemented by the traffic police long ago, but anyways, as they say ‘Better Late Than Never’, the Towing idea by the police have serve the purpose, and in just within a month, the traffic police department has earned Rs 5, 99, 600 from 2-24 March 2019. This income included towing charges of 710 two-wheelers, and 61 four-wheelers, with a total of 771 cases booked for traffic violations.
Started with just one towing vehicle initially on 2 March, now the traffic police dept has three towing vehicles serving the North, South, East and West Traffic Police Stations. Pretty soon one more towing vehicle will be added. The former Police Commissioner T R Suresh had declared many roads in Mangaluru as ‘no parking’ zones and tow away vehicles parked illegally, and vehicles violating the rules had to be towed away, and owners had to pay the required fines. This was some good news for road users and pedestrians but not for those who carelessly park their vehicles as many roads became “no parking” zones unless specifically earmarked either by the Mangaluru City Corporation or the Traffic Police as “parking zone”.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Traffic) Uma Prashanth, who also had said that no amount of widening of roads had helped solve traffic chaos. This was primarily because the widened portion of roads was being used to park vehicles now. She further said, “Now by having three of the towing vehicles we have been cracking down on those motorists parking their vehicles illegally, and towing their vehicles to the nearby traffic police station, from the location where the vehicle was towed. And if they want to know where their vehicle has been towed to, they can call 100 and get the necessary information.
If you look around Mangaluru, on all the widened road done recently for the easy movement of traffic, but unfortunately the side portion of these roads are taken by illegally parked vehicles. So what good is to have the road widened, if it doesn’t serve the needed purpose. Finally, with so many complaints pouring into the police department regarding illegal parking of vehicles, its nice to note that the traffic police have taken this towing decision- and it has worked, bringing awareness among the traffic violators, and in the same time earned very good income for the traffic police department.
So next time before you PARK your VEHICLE look for the NO PARKING SIGN or if you don’t care then you are free to park as per your wish, and later face the consequences of PAYING hefty FINES/TOWING CHARGES. The option is yours!
