Bengaluru: Citizens allege police tow away vehicles arbitrarily

Bengaluru: As the towing charges have been increased over two-folds by the Bengaluru traffic police since Wednesday, vehicle users in the city are a confused regarding parking.

“We are aware that we are not supposed to park where ‘no-parking’ sign boards are installed, but what about the places where those sign boards are not present and roads that have considerably less traffic and parking our vehicles wouldn’t affect traffic flow,” asks Charles Martin, a service manager at an MNC in Dairy Circle.

“Almost regularly, I see this van with a policeman inside and four guys just dragging bikes onto a van from the parking space outside the CMS building on O Shaughnessy Road in Langford Town. The bikes are not parked in a ‘no-parking’ zone and can you imagine the plight of the people once they are finished with their work and then find their bikes gone? When questioned, the van just drives away. The security guards are too scared to say anything to the police,” said Nancy, a commuter.

“Firstly there should be clarity on where to park and where not to. We are educated not to park where a no-parking board is placed.” While the city traffic police said vehicles can be parked only if the area is marked with a white paint for parking, then one is allowed to park. If not, all the other public spots are ‘no parking’ zones, including the road spaces in front of your offices or homes.

Meanwhile, the traffic police department said they have doubled the towing charges due to two reasons. One – the owners of the contract towing vehicles (Tigers) attached to the traffic police had approached the department requesting for a hike as it was not economically viable for them. They have to pay 50 percent of the towing charges go to the department.