As motorists drag stalled cars, private towing vans make merry in Mumbai

Torrential rains, bumper-to-bumper traffic and other woes on Tuesday, and locating their abandoned vehicles and dragging them to garages the next day — this sums up the last 48 hours for city's motorists

Torrential rains, bumper-to-bumper traffic and other woes on Tuesday, and locating their abandoned vehicles and dragging them to garages the next day — this sums up the last 48 hours for city's motorists.

Though the Mumbai Police helped car and bike owners, private towing vans didn't leave the opportunity to make some extra bucks off them.

Broken down vehicles due to flooding were seen in Matunga, Sion, Kurla and Andheri among other areas, blocking more than half of the arterial roads.

"Traffic limped to normalcy late on Tuesday, but the abandoned vehicles on many roads and junctions made it difficult for motorists the next day. We made the police (100) and traffic helplines (8454999999) available for assistance," said Dr Rashmi Karandikar, PRO of Mumbai Police.

Meanwhile, many mechanics were working since morning to repair the stalled vehicles. "We charge R150 for towing a vehicle, but we got many customers on Wednesday who'd brought their vehicles to the garages by paying R500-1,000 for the towing," said Bhiva Jadhav, who has a garage in Gorai.

Dipesh Rane, who has a garage in Bhandup, said, "Usually, we get five vehicles daily, but due to the rains, I have got 15 today."

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