BMC to convert land parcel in Mahul into centralised scrapyard

While Pandey had initiated the drive in February, it failed to see the light of day since the civic officials, who visited the plot before an official handover had marked it to be unfit for the said purpose. They said that the plot is situated on top of a hill and didn’t have a motorway that can be used to transport vehicles to the proposed scrapyard. They requested the Development Plan (DP) department to allot an alternate area.

The DP department had said that it was difficult to allot a fresh plot since most of the civic plots are either reserved for infrastructure projects civic gardens or the rehabilitation of the Project Affected Persons (PAP).

“We have decided to transform this allotted land into a centralised scrapyard. Therefore, we have asked the local ward office to create a boundary wall adjoining the perimeter as well as a concrete motorway. After the plot is ready, we will transport all the scrapped vehicles that are currently lying at the wards over here, soon after which they will be auctioned. The BMC may appoint a private agency to carry out the auction of this project,” said a senior official.

The official added that since February, the BMC seized 2,300 plus vehicles from the roads, out of which approximately 350 owners have claimed back their vehicles while around 2,000 were put up for auction. Since there was no centralised system available, the vehicles were scrapped at the ward level.

BMC officials also said that setting up a scrapyard is also one of the key aspects of the Mumbai Parking Authority (MPA), and the pilot project for the same will be launched early next year.

“The idea is to declutter the existing road spaces and make them usable for parking and vehicular movement. Many designated parking spaces are occupied by these abandoned vehicles and ownership is not claimed for years. Therefore, we will be making a stringent policy under the MPA as well, wherein if a vehicle would not be claimed till a specified time frame, it will be sent to the scrapyard for auction,” said another official.