MUMBAI, June 8: As waves of Cielos, Astras and Fords continue to splash the roads of the metropolis, a roadshow of a different kind is on at a dozen BMC dumping yards all over the city.The corporation's 12 yards at Colaba, Govandi, Wadala, Khar, Juhu, Byculla, Goregaon, Parel, Mulund, Ghatkopar and Kandivli are bursting at their seams with over 2,000 vehicles swept off the streets in the last three years by its towing vans, an all time high."Three years ago, the ratio of unclaimed vehicles was 7 to 10 per cent, it's now shot upto 27 per cent," said an official in the BMC's traffic department. One of the main reasons for unclaimed vehicles, says the BMC, is the shakeup in the auto industry, particularly the introduction of newer fuel-efficient cars. "This has led to a drastic fall in resale prices of second-hand cars, especially the 60s and 70s models," says Chief Engineer R C Barfiwala who heads the BMC's traffic department.Owners leave their old and unserviceable vehicles to rust on roads or whencommercial vehicles become unviable to run. Over half the cars at BMC yards are petrol engine taxis. Many of the cars in the yards are even stolen vehicles used as getaway cars by the underworld and then dumped on roads.That's when the corporation's towing van moves in, armed with Section 314 of the BMC act which allows it to remove old vehicles abandoned on public roads. In an effort to clear out its saturated yards, the BMC already issued advertisements asking owners to collect their vehicles, failing which they would be auctioned.But the incentives for retrieving old vehicles has also been rapidly diminishing ever since the BMC upped demurrage and towing charges in July 1996. Towing charges shot up for light motor vehicles to Rs 1,500 from the earlier Rs 600, and a maximum demurrage to Rs 4,000 from Rs 2,000. An old car owner will now have to shell out Rs 5,500 to recover his car from a yard."That's nearly half the cost of the car and is unacceptable to most owners, so the car is written off,"says a BMC official.The corporation's largest dumping yard, Star Garage in Lower Parel, is a case in point. On Saturday, the last three vehicles were towed into the yard, right upto the gate. "We're full, we can't take any more cars," grins an attendant at the yard, squeezing past the rows of dusty vehicles.Huge heaps of rusting cars and scooters, booted out of the auto industry's evolutionary cycle make up a majority: Ambassador, Fiat and Dolphin cars, Lambretta and Vespa scooters and even a sleek 70s model American sports car, each with a story of its own.There's the tale of a vehicle owner whose antique Morris was towed to the yard. A scrap dealer who bought the car at a BMC auction for Rs 5,000 two years ago, parted with it only after he was paid a whopping Rs 30,000! The BMC will recover an estimated Rs 36 lakhs from the auction in August.Ambassadors and Fiats are up for grabs for Rs 8,000, Taxis for Rs 7,000, autorickshaws for Rs 3,000 and two wheelers, most of them just bare shells, dirtcheap for Rs 300.
