Shaikh Jamaluddin | NT
PORVORIM: Besides parking issue and traffic congestion, Porvorim is facing another problem of abandoned vehicles lying on the roadsides.
There are many junk four-wheelers and two-wheelers lying unattended by their owners for years in Porvorim, particularly in Penha de Franca village panchayat jurisdiction.
Some junk cars are abandoned just inside the Porvorim police station garden and a few can be seen lying at an open space between the Porvorim police station and Jesuit House.
A car has been abandoned at the Goa Journalist Housing Society colony for the past many years, while a few scooters and motorcycles are lying at an open space outside a residential building before the Kranti Nagar garden.
Another goods rickshaw was abandoned for the past many years opposite Kranti Nagar interior road and unclaimed by the owner.
Abel Fernandes, a local resident said that the car was lying abandoned for the past two years at the Goa Journalist Housing colony at Porvorim.
It is learnt that the car, which belongs to a contractor, was first parked on the footpath but later it was shifted to the side of the road during construction of jogger’s park.
Ameen Bhai, a peon working at a construction site, said that in the recent past shrubs had grown all around the abandoned car.
P Arlekar pointed out that the abandoned vehicles spoil the beauty of the place and also restrict walking space of pedestrians on the road.
A source from Porvorim police station informed that some vehicles have been abandoned due to court cases pending against their owners as a result of accidents.
He informed that if the traffic police find any unclaimed vehicles lying on the roadside and obstructing public passage or traffic then the vehicle is towed away and a letter is written to the owner to take immediate possession of the vehicle.
The source also informed that in case of fatal accidents the relatives do not claim the vehicle. He said that if such vehicles are seized then the police get to know that there is no number plate or registration number besides the engine numbers is tampered with.
A source in Penha de Franca village panchayat revealed that there is no such information on any act which empowers the office of the panchayat to either seize or take possession of the abandoned vehicles.