Ludhiana police to auction 1,779 vehicles soon, orders procured

Tribune News Service

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Ludhiana, September 26

In what appears to be a positive development in the Police Commissionerate, Ludhiana, the 29 police stations of the industrial hub are set to get a relief as the city police are going to auction impounded and unclaimed vehicles soon. These vehicles impounded in various cases have been gathering dust at the police stations and have literally turned them into junkyards. In fact, some police stations, including Police Division 5, Salem Tabri, Haibowal, Focal Point, Police Division 7, Daresi and PAU, have dumped the vehicles on roads due to lack of space.

With the initiative of the Ludhiana Commissioner of Police Mandeep Singh Sidhu, the city police have obtained orders from the court to start the auction of large chunk of vehicles.

As per the data (the copy of which is with The Tribune), the Commissionerate has as many as 3,090 vehicles lying at 29 police stations. These include vehicles impounded in various criminal cases and traffic violations and unclaimed vehicles. Among the 3,090 vehicles, impounded vehicles are 2,673 two-wheelers, 226 three-wheelers, 184 four wheelers, including cars, and seven are heavy vehicles such as trucks.

Talking to The Tribune recently, CP Mandeep Sidhu said: “This excercise was needed in Ludhiana as vehicles have been lying at police stations for years and some are even decade old. Some police stations are not having proper space to ensure upkeep of the vehicles and most of them have packed these inside the thanas. The initiative will provide space to the city police stations and same space can be utilised for other purposes such as plantation or other police works.”

Sidhu said he had formed a committee, led by DCP Traffic Varinder Singh Brar, who along with his team followed the lengthy process to obtain court orders for auctioning the vehicles. The committee was also on the job to obtain orders of remaining vehicles for auction by following the due procedure.

Meanwhile, during survey of some police stations, it was noticed that some vehicles are often damaged beyond repair and recognition. Their windscreens are shattered, doors unhinged, tyres punctured and steering wheels broken. Over the time, they get reduced to mere scrap.

Focal Point impounded max 518 vehicles

As per data of the vehicles impounded by the 29 police stations, the Focal Point police have impounded maximum 518 vehicles, followed by 498 by the city traffic police, 233 by the Sarabha Nagar police station, 193 by Police Division 6, 136 by Shimlapuri, 133 by Police Division 5, 130 by Police Division 8 and 108 by Daba. While the Daresi police have impounded only 11 vehicles, the minimum among 29 police stations, 16 were impounded by Haibowal, 19 by Dugri, 25 by Ladhowal and 29 by Jodhewal.

Vehicles to be auctioned

As per the data, the police have obtained court orders to start auction of as many as 1,779 vehicles of which most of them are two-wheelers followed by cars, three-wheelers and four-wheelers. Of the total vehicles to be auctioned, 518 belong to the Focal Point police station, 397 belong to city traffic police, 97 belong to Police Division 6, 85 to Tibba, 84 to Police Division 8, 81 to Model Town, 76 to Moti Nagar, 71 to PS 5, 61 to PS 7, 49 to PAU, 47 to PS 4, 43 to PS 6, 40 to PS 1, 38 to Jamalpur, 32 to Koom Kalan and 16 belong to Haibowal.