Parked your car wrongly? Cops will make sure that you can’t take the car out

 

This time the cops are caught on the wrong foot. Instead of going by the rules of clearing the traffic either by booking a case or towing the vehicle, the Bengaluru cops have come with a novel idea of deflating the tyres of the vehicles parked wrongly.

 

This instead of clearing the traffic has multiplied the traffic problem as the cars (with deflated tyres) have to be either pushed or have to be driven slowly.

 

Earlier, when the team Asianet Newsable approached the Upparpet Police to find out the reason behind such action, they denied deflating the tyres. However, their defence fell flat when we showed the video of cops deflating tyres near Metro station at Majestic as caught by the Newsable camera.

 

Then slowly one of the officers told the truth. "We are tired of warning the drivers of cabs and tourist vehicles against parking on the roadside as it effects the bus movement. But the unruly drivers do not care a damn and continue to park wrongly, affecting the traffic movement. Our seniors come on rounds and call us 'nalayaks' for allowing the drivers to park their vehicles. We get scolding for no mistake of ours. Thus to teach a lesson to such drivers, we are deflating the tyres of such vehicles," said a head constable attached to the Upparpet Police Station.

 

The idea may look smart, but instead of clearing the traffic, it causes congestion and traffic jam. Madhu Gowda, a cab driver, attached with Ola says, “The customers who usually board from City Railway Station, book the cab and we have to wait for their arrival. The cops do not understand our problem as there is no parking area and we are forced to stop at the edge of the road as there is no other option.”

 

"Earlier they used to stick a notice on our vehicle, but these days they are deflating tyres. This causes embarrassment as the customers cancel booking on the spot. We have to push the car top the filling station and get the air filled again," he added.

 

Raju N, a driver attached with UBER said, “The police had booked me for 'misuse' of vehicle permit, and the vehicle was towed away for a simple offence.”

 

 "I had to go to the court to get the vehicle released. The very next day, I had a booking, but even before I could get the customer on board, the police had deflated the back tyres of my vehicle. They did this as their towing vehicle was not available. The police did not realise how the traffic movement was getting affected due to this foolish act of the cops," he said.

 

The police are short-staffed, and they too have issues in manning the traffic. It is a multi-dimensional problem. The customers should be given a pickup or drop point in busy junctions. The police should also get more towing vehicles instead of deflating tyres. Satish Kumar, Traffic Police Inspector, Chickpet division who also patrols in the Majestic surroundings found the cab menace too much for the police to handle and defended the cops’ idea of deflating the tyres.

 

"Our men are tired of booking cases as there is no change in the behaviour of cab and auto rickshaw drivers. The police must have deflated tyres in frustration," he said. Although the traffic movement will be hit for a while, these drivers will not repeat the same mistake of parking in the bus bay,” he added.