Abandoned vehicles a headache

TRIPUNITHURA: As the checking of illegal sand mining intensified the Tripunithura, the Police seized scores of tipper lorries full of illegal sand. According to the rules, the district administration has the power to release the seized vehicles after fixing a penalty for illegal sand mining and transportation. As per the instruction of the district administration, under the direct control of District Collector, related police stations in the jurisdiction will seize the vehicles along with the sand.Once the police seize the vehicles, they will be dumped near the police station. There is no provision for allotting space for keeping these seized vehicles. Police stations are already flooded with the vehicles they seized in connection with accidents and other related crimes. However the police has the right to auction such seized vehicles after a fixed time period.However in the case of the vehicles seized along with the illegal sand the order should come from the District Headquarters. Only the District Collector has the right to fix the penalty, which will always be a huge sum, and to release the vehicles. However in almost all cases, the district administration neglect these seizure cases. In the normal course, they will take at least six months to take the decision on the penalty or other punishments for releasing these vehicles.As the penalty will be a huge amount, most of the tipper owners will leave the vehicles with the sand in it on the wayside. As the owners are not at all interested to retain these vehicles they remain abandoned in front of the Circle Inspector’s office. Gradually the seized tippers turn into a mobile garden of climbers. They also turn to be menace for pedestrians and other drivers the narrow road has little space to occupy these vehicles. The District Administration always turns a blind eye towards these vehicles to discourage other tipper owners from engaging in such illegal sand mining process, said a local who is residing next to the compound where the tippers are abandoned. However this trend of the District Administration causes unwanted difficulties to many. There should be a practical approach towards this problem. Either the authorities should take formal steps to auction these vehicles or allow the owners to retain them by fixing an affordable penalty. If the authorities concerned are reluctant to do so it will create problems for many, he said.