Vehicles dumped on premises of two police stations. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 21: Authorities have decided to dispose of unclaimed seized vehicles in the custody of various police stations.

Police commissioner R.P. Sharma has asked the concerned police stations to prepare a list of unclaimed vehicles in their possession.

“Once the list is prepared, we will request the court for auction of the unclaimed vehicles. The money raised through the auction will be deposited in government treasury,” said a senior police official.

Thousands of vehicles, including four-wheelers, seized in various cases have been gathering dust on the premises of 21 police stations across the city. But Capital, Kharavela Nagar, Lingaraj, Khandagiri and Nayapalli police stations account for the bulk of them.

Some of the unclaimed vehicles have been left on the police station premises for more than five years. Condition of most of these vehicles has deteriorated to such an extent that they can now only be sold to scrap dealers, he said.

Given their huge number, backyards of most of the police stations have turned into junkyards. As a result, they are facing a space crunch. Nayapalli police station is an example, where one can spot seized vehicles parked even on road in front of the police station.

The police said around 150 motorcycles and 20 four-wheelers were lying neglected at Capital Police Station, while another 100 motorcycles and 20 four-wheelers were gathering dust at Lingaraj Police Station.

In April, a fire had broken out at the backyard of Kharavela Nagar police station, where a large number of seized vehicles were parked. The fire tender took around 30 minutes to douse the flames, which, by then, had gutted some vehicles.

“The seized vehicles at Nayapalli police station are occupying a large part of the road in front of it. As a consequence, there is little space left for us to park our vehicles,” said local resident Bhabani Sahu.