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The cranes in Ahmedabad operate on contract with the Traffic police. The government does not pay to them. So, the crane service has to maintain itself with the money collected from those violating traffic norms.
In the last one year, the traffic department registered
1, 54, 960 cases of towing and collected Rs 5, 88, 19,710, which has gone to the government treasury. When the department was asked about the amount collected by the crane service, it had no clue. “We do not maintain any record of that. It is their everyday income, which covers fuel and labour cost,” said traffic department officials.
According to Joint Commissioner of Police Atul Karwal, the city still needs proper road signage. When asked how a ‘no parking’ zone is identified, a traffic constable said, “We only follow Motor Vehicles Act (1988). We can’t do more than that.”
Sub-Inspector O S Tiwari explained: “Any person who breaks the law under Section 127 of the MV Act has his/her vehicle towed away and is charged Rs 100. Two receipts of Rs 50 each are issued: one for breaking the law and the other for the crane service. The vehicles are towed away from the crossroads, which are not parking zones.”
Under the MV Act, the traffic department has to maintain break down vehicles, either at the expense of the government or hire on contract. The city traffic department has hired 20 crane companies. But payment for these is neither paid by the government nor by the traffic department.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M M Anarwala, said: “I don’t think the public should bother about where the other Rs 50 goes? The government doesn’t have the money to run crane services. When the government will have money, they will run their own crane services. Then also one will have to pay Rs 100.”
Tiwari admitted that as per the norms, the towing vans in the city are supposed to tow everyday on their regular routes. Despite that, the services are not regular. “The cranes do not turn up most of the time. The traffic police have to request them to do the towing,” he added.
It has also been found that neither the crane service workers are trained where to tow nor does the traffic department explain the law to them. A worker from the HK Crane Services said: “We are told to go and tow away vehicles parked outside buildings and shops near the roads. We don’t know much about the parking rules.”
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