Hyderabad City Police gets Rs.51.7 lakh from auction of abandoned, seized vehicles

Hyderabad: City Police Commissioner CV Anand has directed all officers to clear Law & Order and Traffic police stations, the Goshamahal Police Stadium and several other offices where abandoned vehicles involved in crime cases are lying and occupying space, apart from affecting the look of the police stations.

In a first attempt at this, a total of 601 seized and abandoned vehicles have gone up for public auction conducted by the City Police at Goshamahal police grounds on Tuesday, which was formally inaugurated by the Commissioner.

Addressing the event, Anand urged bidders to bid in a fair manner and be very vigilant on illicit drug trafficking and usage. About 550 bidders from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh participated in the bidding which had 545 two-wheelers, 21 three-wheelers and 2 four-wheeler vehicles up for auction.

The total amount received in the auction out of the sale of 600 vehicles was Rs.51.7 lakh, which will be deposited in the government treasury.

Officials said that despite notifying owners through press releases, most of them were reluctant to collect their vehicles. The condition of some of the unclaimed vehicles had deteriorated to such an extent that they could only be sold to scrap dealers.

In normal circumstances, the police clear the seized vehicles out of the lot through auctions. But accommodating too many vehicles in the lot is a challenge that has been exacerbated due to the pandemic which forced a pause on regular auctions, officials said.

The City Police is now planning to auction nearly 5,000 vehicles.