Pune:
The traffic police claim that around 12 two-wheelers are 'lifted' per day per towing vehicle in the city, contrary to popular belief that scores of two-wheelers are picked up by each vehicle every day for wrong parking.
Right to Information (RTI) activist and Sajag Nagrik Manch (SNM) president Vivek Velankar had recently sought information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, on the numbers of towing vehicles hired and errant two-wheelers lifted by the traffic department from January to September 2010.
Velankar expressed surprise over the significantly low number of two-wheelers reported to be towed away. He has demanded that the traffic department in-charge, DCP Manoj Patil, clarify on the issue.
Public information officer (PIO) and assistant police commissioner, KC Lavange, in a reply to Velankar, said 77,243 vehicles were lifted by 30 towing vehicles in the nine months from January to September 2010.Velankar and another RTI activist, Vishwas Sahastrbuddhe, in a letter to Patil, said a towing vehicle owner gets Rs50 per two-wheeler lifted. If 12 vehicles are lifted in a vehicle, its owner gets Rs600 daily. If one deducts the expenses -- such as salaries of his employees, fuel consumed and maintenance of the vehicle -- the tempo owner hardly gets anything. It is a loss-making business.
When contacted, Patil told DNA he could not comment on the issue, but action could be taken if a specific complaint is made to him.
Earlier, action was taken against such errant towing vehicle owners.
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