The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner on Thursday ordered the removal of unused vehicles permanently parked on footpaths within a week from Friday. If not, the Palike itself will clear these vehicles and dump them in the junkyard.

The order comes in the wake of the hurdles caused by these vehicles to pedestrians walking on the footpaths.

The directions have been issued to the joint commissioners, assistant engineers and the executive engineers in each of the eight zones to clear these vehicles for making it convenient for pedestrians to use the pavements.

“These vehicles will be towed away by the BBMP officials and sold as junk,” said Gowda.

While the biggest impediment is caused by the vehicles which are seized by the Bangalore police and parked on the pavements near their police stations, it appears that the Palike will not be touching them. “Since the police have their own rules to follow, it is hard for us to interfere in such cases. They will have to be categorised in a different section all together,” said Gowda. 

However, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security) M A Saleem told Deccan Herald he would immediately take steps to clear vehicles parked on pavements. 

“The police are forced to park vehicles on pavements due to non-availability of space.

However, we will issues strict instructions to clear such vehicles from the pavements and park them elsewhere,” he said.

Vehicles involved in crimes automatically become court properties. Many a time, it takes years for a case to come to a logical end and till such time the police have to take care of the vehicles.