719 vehicles stolen this year; less than 200 recovered

Nirmal Singh is just one of the 719 people who lost their vehicles to thieves in Chandigarh this year. The theft of motor vehicles goes on unabated in the city,with the police completely failing to check it.

In October alone,a total of 84 vehicles were stolen from various parts of the city. The figures include a total of 30 cars,38 motorcycles,14 scooters and two jeeps. Every month,on an average,85 vehicles are stolen. Even as an average of three vehicles are being stolen from city daily,the recovery rate remains a shoddy low,with less than 30 per cent of the vehicles recovered so far.

In spite of tall claims by the top brass,the thieves are enjoying runaway success with a total of 635 vehicles reportedly stolen from the city till September this year,out of which only 181 have been recovered. Areas under the jurisdiction of the police stations of Sector 17,Manimajra,Sector 34,Sector 36 and Sector 39 seemed to have become the favourite haunt of vehicle thieves.

A total of 107 vehicles have been stolen from the jurisdiction of the Sector 17 police station this year,another 99 have been stolen from the area under the Sector 39 police station,a total of 83 vehicles from the jurisdiction of the Sector 34 police station and another 50 from the jurisdiction of Manimajra police station.

The figures of bikes thefts,too,have swelled,with the number of stolen two-wheelers surpassing that for four-wheelers. While a total of 373 two wheelers — 80 per cent of them bikes — have been stolen this year,only 119 have been recovered.

According to police officials,a large number of the stolen bikes have been used in the incidents of snatching and the ones recovered are mostly those which were abandoned.

The thieves are finding it easy to lay their hands on cars,with a total of 246 cars already stolen this year and 56 of them recovered so far. While the Central Division,comprising of police station of Sector 3,Sector 17 and Sector 11, has reported 62 car thefts this year,the Eastern Division (police stations Industrial Area,Manimajra,Sector 19 and 26) has reported 71 car thefts.

The Southern Division has taken the lead,with a total of 103 cars reportedly stolen this year.

CopSpeak

“The rate of motor vehicle thefts is not high at all. In fact,we have managed to curb it since last year. It is a trend that is bound to rise with the increase in vehicular traffic and population. Easy registration of cases is another reason for the high number. We are planning out a strategy and efforts are on to improve the recovery rate,” said UT SSP Naunihal Singh.