Karnataka Govt suspends towing vehicles till new policy is formed says Home Minister

The Bengaluru traffic police department came under criticism after two videos of its personnel harassing motorists surfaced on social media.

Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra decided to suspend the towing of vehicles from no-parking zones in the city until it comes up with a revised policy. (Representational image)

After a Bengaluru traffic police personnel physically and verbally assaulted a differently-abled woman, Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra decided to suspend the towing of vehicles from no-parking zones in the city until it comes up with a revised policy.

The decision came after Araga Jnanendra held a meeting with Director General of Police (DGP) Praveen Sood, Bengaluru City police commissioner Kamal Pant, and Joint Commissioner (traffic) B R Ravikanthe Gowda on Wednesday.

“The government has decided to suspend towing until we develop a simplified, motorist-friendly towing traffic management policy in the next 15 days. Till we bring the new guidelines we have decided to stop towing vehicles. However, traffic police officials will deal only with the issue of vehicles parked in no-parking areas,” the minister said after the meeting.

The Bengaluru traffic police department came under criticism after two videos of its personnel harassing motorists surfaced on social media. In one of the videos, a motorcyclist is seeing running after a towing vehicle and begging for his vehicle to be released. In the other video, the ASI is seen manhandling the woman over a towing vehicle.

The meeting also discussed hefty fines collected for traffic rule violations in the state and also the home minister said there is the need to reduce fines. However, the government will take the final call on fines after consulting Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai soon.

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