Angul: Visit any police station and you will definitely come across a large number of two-wheelers and other vehicles. There are no takers for these vehicles. All most all the police stations in Angul district have been struggling with this problem.
There are 22 police stations in Angul district and they are registering more than one case mostly involving two-wheelers on a daily basis. Most of cases are related to accidents, loot and organised crimes. Majority of such criminal cases are committed on two-wheelers while at times auto-rickshaws and four-wheelers are also used.
Sources said that in cases related to accidents, police are returning the vehicles to the owners after verifying the documents. Around 60 per cent of the vehicles are returned to their respective owners. The remaining 40 per cent are left to rot on police station premises without any protection over them.
Then there are around 10 per cent of unclaimed vehicles in the police stations. Most of these have been used pertaining to criminal activities. Unnecessarily these vehicles occupy spaces that could have been used for better purposes.
A senior police official on condition of anonymity said they can’t return the vehicles to their respective owners until the cases are solved in courts.
Apart from the police stations, such vehicles are also found in the offices of the district collector, forest department, municipality, works department and hospitals.
The excise department has a similar picture to offer. Sources said that the estimated value of the vehicles seized by the excise department will not be less than Rs 50 lakh. Excise department sources said, most of the vehicles were seized during smuggling either liquor or other contraband items.
A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, informed that the chances of such vehicles finding their way back to the owners are very slim. “When vehicles remain unclaimed they are auctioned after a particular time frame. However, auctioning of the vehicles has not been done for a long time due to legal hassles. The government is losing a huge amount of money due to this reason,” the official said.
When contacted, Angul SP Jagmohan Meena said the vehicles are being kept in open because of pending court cases. “There are times when we are returning some vehicles to their owners but the numbers are not satisfactory,” admitted Meena.
The value of all the vehicles piled up at all the 22 police stations has roughly been pegged at Rs 7 crore, it was learnt.
PNN