According to Delhi Police’s official data, on an average over 78 vehicles stolen daily in the Capital in the first four months of this year ended up in chop shops. While a total of 9,546 vehicles were reported to be stolen in various parts of Delhi up to April, the maximum cases were reportedly from the East district. As many as 1,487 vehicles were stolen in the span of 122 days from this region. Residents of this area blame the lack of proper parking places for the thefts as people are bound to park their vehicles far from their residence.
“Apart from those living in secure apartments, the rest have to park vehicles away from their residences. Here there are no public parking places with appropriate security. There are no gates in the residential area and therefore, vehicles are parked at the owner’s risk. You can never tell who uses a Slim Jim to pop a lock or steal the car’s rims,” said a resident of Mayur Vihar in East Delhi.
Among others, West district recorded 1,382 such cases, North-East district 1,254, South-East district 1,178 and the outer district 1,005. In the posh South district, 915 vehicles were robbed while South-West district recorded 564 such cases. Meanwhile, high-security localities in the New Delhi district such as the Parliament Street, Chanakyapuri and Connaught Place, recorded the lowest number of such cases with only 93 vehicles reported stolen from the area.
Dinesh Verma, a resident of Nangloi area in West Delhi, where the second largest number of such cases were reported, said, “The area is not very well developed, many houses are not very well made. Area has narrow lanes and only two-wheelers can be parked here. Cars, Jeeps and other vehicles are parked away from sight. Such incidents have become regular in the area. Vehicles once gone are rarely retrieved.”