For an unknowing, arriving at a police station in Ranchi might feel like they have wandered into an automobile junkyard as numerous vehicles of every make and model lay
rotting haphazardly in the premises.
These vehicles are the ones seized by the police due to one of the three reasons — road accidents, driving without relevant documents or illegal parking – and have been renounced by their owners.
In more than 50 police stations and police outposts under Ranchi police, thousands of two-wheelers, four-wheelers and heavy vehicles sit unattended. Sitting in the premises of the police stations for long, exposed to the elements for months at end, most of these vehicles have even become unfit for running on the streets, mostly due to decay and absence of parts to some extent.
The police officials manning these police stations and responsible for these seized vehicles express their helplessness in getting rid of them due to shortage of manpower required to go through the procedure and paperwork involved in the process.
“The vehicles we seize are to be used as evidence in courts of law and can be taken once that purpose is fulfilled. Some owners take their vehicles away but many leave them here. Sometimes those we seized the motor vehicle from don’t have appropriate documentation establishing their claim over it, like in cases where is not its actual owner,” stated Chunwa Oraon, Officer in-Charge of Chutia police station.
When owners do not turn up to claim their vehicles on their own, notices and advertisements are published, declaring them to be free for taking home. If no claims are received for six months since the publication of these notices, the vehicle is put up for auction. But this seems to be a tough job for the police personnel.
He further added, “Given the taxing workload and the deficient workforce we have to work with, it is not possible to spare time to locate the actual owners and hand over the vehicles to them or conduct auctions. We cannot do this and maintain law and order simultaneously considering how short-handed we are.”
Apart from making cluttered campuses, this stockpile of decaying automobiles also pose an occupational hindrance for the police stations.
“Not only do these vehicles unwontedly take over space in police stations, they add to the workload we already have as we have to maintain up to date records of the vehicles parked in our police stations. We have to fulfil our policing duties while taking care of this avoidable paperwork,” stated Sadar OC.
Recruiting new police personnel will take some load off, the only way to deal with this issue, suggested the Chutia OC.