John Wilbert & Rabindranath Biswas
Port Blair, Dec 14: Pedestrians, commuters, and the City Traffic Police are facing adversities with a huge number of abandoned vehicles cluttering different nooks, crannies, and roads of the Port Blair City.
According to the Traffic Branch, the abandoned vehicles obstruct traffic flow and create security issues on public roads, while the citizens of Port Blair are of the view that it is essential to take strong and timely action through the special drives in de-cluttering the city roads.
Some areas dotted with abandoned cars include Delanipur to Light House, Hindi Sahitiya Kala Parishad to Pioneer Chicken Center, Junglighat Main Road area and suburbs of the city, according to Traffic Branch.
Though the Police have earlier made several announcements exhorting people to remove abandoned vehicles from roads and footpaths, the violators are hardly found to be showing any honour to the announcement of the Police in this respect, and they continue to defy the extant rule and desert their vehicles at the place meant for the public. The Traffic Police even removed many abandoned vehicles from these areas.
Vehicles parked at a spot for several days and whose owners cannot be traced are categorized as abandoned. The MV Act states that these vehicles can be towed away. The Act further states that if an abandoned, wrecked, burnt or partially dismantled vehicle is creating a traffic hazard, its immediate removal from public place by a towing service may be authorised by a Police Officer having jurisdiction.
The current situation is like garaging of the roads and these vehicles must be towed away and heavy penalties must be recovered from the violators as they are obstructing free flow of traffic causing inconvenience to the citizens, the civic of the city said.
The abandoned vehicles have become a menace, as they are left on the road side, they create traffic congestion, occupy valuable parking spaces in crowded residential areas in an unauthorized way and pose threat of other hazards, another Police Official said.
Meanwhile, the Traffic Police have urged the public to come forward and tender cooperation to the Police in any such case if they come across thereby contacting nearby Police Station or passing the information to the Traffic Police at the contact number and whatsapp number: 9531802228 of the Andaman and Nicobar Police.
