Bengaluru police want to tow your vehicle, but where is the place to park them?

Land scarcity within Bengaluru has emerged as a fresh challenge for the civic body and the traffic police, who are in the process of drafting an action plan to resume towing of vehicles parked in unauthorised spots.

Even as three out of four traffic divisions have received towing vehicles from the corporations, the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) remain unclear about where the towed vehicles will be parked. The issue came up after the BTP was told to clear vehicles dumped at Jakkarayanakere in central Bengaluru.

A senior officer from the Northeast division told The Hindu that they now have no option but to park all seized vehicles within police station premises, creating a new challenge in managing space around the stations. 

Another officer, however, pointed out that the primary reason for vehicles piling up at police stations is the reluctance to auction seized vehicles. “As per the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Act, all seized vehicles that are not claimed by their owners should be auctioned. However, this has rarely been carried out,” the officer said.

Search for land to park towed vehicles

While the BTP has the option of using small parcels of land within the city belonging to the police department, these will still fall short of the requirement. As a result, the BTP has written to Jagadeesha G., Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban district, seeking the identification of three parcels of land within the city, each spanning at least three acres, to shift vehicles seized by the police.

However, the problem extends beyond the shortage of land for parking towed vehicles. Most police stations in the city are already flooded with seized vehicles, and their holding capacity is fast diminishing. If the situation continues, the spillover of seized vehicles will reach footpaths and roads around the stations, bringing the situation back to square one, potentially leading to violations of court directions.

High Court push 

In 2021, the High Court of Karnataka had orally observed that the city police must ensure that no vehicle is parked on footpaths around police stations before taking action against motorists for parking on footpaths.

Following this observation, the Bengaluru city police decided to move all seized vehicles to a single location until their release or auction. Since then, all seized vehicles that needed to be held for prolonged periods were shifted to Jakkarayanakere.

Another police facility on the northern outskirts of Bengaluru, near Madanayakanahalli, was also used, but this facility too is expected to reach its capacity soon.

Why not Jakkarayanakere?

A well-placed police source told The Hindu that residents had raised objections to the Jakkarayanakere facility.

“Residents alleged that the snake menace had increased in the locality due to the accumulation of junk vehicles, and the lack of maintenance at the facility, which led to overgrowth of bushes. The facility also witnessed a fire in 2025 in which more than 100 vehicles were gutted,” the officer said.

In light of repeated complaints, a high-level multi-department meeting was convened, during which the police were told to shift all the vehicles.