BENGALURU: Lonely and forlorn, this brand-new stunning BMW lies abandoned at BMTC Bus Depot number 7 in Subhashnagar. With nobody coming forward to claim it, the swank car, registered in Puducherry (PY 01 BE 8950), which was seized by the state Road Transport Department over charges of non- payment of road tax, is now parked in the depot, exposed to the elements without any protection or shelter, along with several other Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs).
Even though this car was seized long back, neither the transport department nor the BMTC staff who guards it, have any clue about the identity of the owner or when he will drive the car away after paying the necessary tax and producing the required documents.
This BMW car is one of the several hundred high-end cars/ Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) which were towed away by the state Transport Department and parked in various BMTC TTMCs in the city.
Most of these vehicles were seized after it was found that they had either evaded road tax or had forged documents or no documents at all. With many of the owners finding it difficult to pay the road tax, the cars are still lying in the TTMCs.
Transport Department officials have an interesting observation to make about these cars. “In many cases, owners who were found driving the car at the time of checking and seizing it, never return with the needed documents. So we need to cross-verify the owner's details with the local RTOs. Most of the vehicles are lying there because their owners don’t have the required documents,” he said.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, an owner of an SUV which is now in the custody of the RTO, ever since it was seized a month ago as he didn’t have a few tax receipts and hadn’t paid the Karnataka road tax. “I need another month to pay all the taxes. Till then I am not in a position to bring my SUV back,” he said.
Meanwhile, state transport commissioner Mr. Ramegowda warned that if car owners do not come forward to release their vehicles, the department will produce these vehicles in court.
