Impounded vehicles rusting away at police stations

Police stations to become automobiles graveyard due to lack of parking space

RAWALPINDI:

More than 5,000 motorcycles and 1,500 vehicles impounded in various cases have become a pile of rubbish at

30 police stations across Rawalpindi due to the lack of space for parking.

Sources said that parts of many of these impounded motorcycles and vehicles have also been missing. Drug addicts and other people from nearby settlements steal spare parts while taking advantage of the lack of extended boundary walls.

Because of the lack of parking space at the police stations, motorcycles and vehicles, which had been locked for several years, had turned into rubbish after their poor upkeep.

Some of these cars were stolen, some were impounded for having forged or tampered documents, and some were reduced to scrap in accidents and some non-customs paid, but all have one thing in common — they are well past their use-by date.

According to the sources, some vehicles were so old that plants have grown up in them. Sources said that due to the lack of proper parking facilities at the police stations, police personnel also face problems in parking their vehicles except for the station house officers who could only park their vehicles inside the premises of police stations.

All these vehicles and motorcycles worth billions of rupees are kept under the open sky due to the lack of parking. Police sources said that most of the vehicles and motorcycles were from Westridge, Pirudhai, Naseerabad, Sadiqabad, Civil Lines, Airport, Waris Khan, City, Cantonment, RA Bazaar, Bani, New Town Gujjar Khan, Mandira, Taxila and Wah police stations.

Read More: 18 new police stations in Lahore suggested

SSP Operations Rai Mazhar Iqbal said that there was not enough space at the Saddar warehouse where all these impounded vehicles and motorcycles could be kept.

He said that citizens who complete the legal process of their vehicles, they were handed over to them as soon as the court order was received.

The police officer said that there were hundreds of vehicles rusting away at police stations but nobody shows up to claim the property.

He said that abandoned and unclaimed vehicles were auctioned off after a certain time but it had been delayed.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2021.