Transport dept to auction seized vehicles on May 22

​Hyderabad: Reacting to a strong letter by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation officials to remove the seized vehicles from their premises, the Transport department has now decided to take up auction on the vehicles on May 22.

The TSRTC officials in February had shot off a strong letter asking the Transport Commissioner to immediately vacate the huge number of unused vehicles that were parked in its 25 depots across the city. The RTC officials said Transport authorities have been dumping hundreds of vehicles, which were seized for violation of traffic rules.

RTA had sent notices to the vehicle owners based on the engine numbers and chassis numbers to stake claim on their vehicles.

Generally, the Transport department shifts the seized vehicles and collects parking charges from the vehicle owners and pays that to the RTC. It takes up auction for vehicles which are not claimed by the vehicle owners even after sending notices.

The RTA officials publish the engine numbers and chassis numbers on the Transport department website before taking up auction.

The Greater Hyderabad Zone has 25 depots and has a fleet of over 3,500 buses. At a time there would be about 150 buses at the depot. The result is that there is no space for taking up maintenance, cleaning and repairs to the vehicles. There is no place left to accommodate new buses.

Also, as there is no scope for new depots in the city, the RTC were severely running short of the space in their own premises. At times, the RTC buses are parked outside the depots because of lack of space in the premises.

The depots like Ranigunj, Mehdipatnam, Falaknuma, Kukatpally and others are running out of space because of the dumping of seized vehicles. In few depots, the seized vehicles are piling up and it turned into a huge dump.

The department has asked the people to check the auction details on www.transport. telangana. gov.in. The bidder should pay a non-refundable deposit of Rs 500 for participation in the bidding besides an amount of Rs 2,000 towards refundable deposit per vehicle.