Mumbai’s khataras rake in Rs 14.3 lakh revenue for RTO

The auctioned vehicles include trucks, buses and cars that were lying in the RTO premises

Regional Transport Offices have launched their own ‘Operation Khatara' to clear old and scrapped vehicles that have been occupying valuable land. Tardeo RTO recently auctioned such old unclaimed vehicles for a total of Rs 14.3 lakh.

"Around 32 vehicles lying in the premises were disposed of. Following due procedure, we had tried to trace the owners of these vehicles and also acquired court permission. The vehicles were disposed of by e-auction on March 30 which fetched the RTO a revenue of R14,30,000. The vehicles included tankers, buses and cars," Tardeo RTO Officer Bharat Kalaskar said.

Another official said, "Many of the rotting vehicles had just turned into metal shells, turning the space into a small dumping ground of sorts. With these now gone, the area can be used for other purposes."

The Mumbai police and the civic body too have launched a similar drive to remove abandoned vehicles from city's streets. BMC officials have so far issued notices to 2,381 vehicle owners to remove their vehicles from roads in 24 administrative wards. As per procedure, the civic body pastes notices on abandoned vehicles and if the owners come forward to claim them, they are given the vehicles and fined for occupying the space.

If vehicles are not claimed, they are disposed of through public auction. Last year, the Mumbai traffic police had written to the BMC to provide them with spaces in the city to keep around 10,000 abandoned and scrapped vehicles parked across the city.

32
No. of vehicles that were auctioned at Tardeo RTO