BMC to appoint contractors to clear 3,000 abandoned vehicles from Mumbai’s roads

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to outsource the job of removing abandoned vehicles from the streets of Mumbai to contractors, in a bid to streamline the process.
The civic body has invited tenders for the appointment of one contractor each for the island city, eastern suburbs, and western suburbs, with an aim to get rid of over 3,000 unsightly clunkers littered across Mumbai’s roads over the next three years. The BMC’s traffic department will oversee the operation to ensure that abandoned vehicles are swiftly dealt with and cleared, according to officials.
“We estimate there are more than 3,000 abandoned vehicles across Mumbai,” said a civic official from the traffic department. “The tender is for the scrapping of these vehicles left unclaimed on municipal roads.”
Previously, multiple authorities, including the traffic police, the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs), and the BMC’s ward offices, were responsible for dealing with abandoned vehicles. However, this system was often slow and inefficient, partly due to staff shortages and the cumbersome nature of coordination between different authorities.
As per the previous policy, wards would identify abandoned vehicles, paste notices giving the owners 48 hours to claim them, and then tow them to designated spots. If no one claimed the vehicle within 10 days, the RTO would issue a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for its deregistration, and the police would ensure no FIR was registered. The vehicle would then be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Under the new policy, contractors will take charge of this entire process. They will identify abandoned vehicles, take photographs, and record their GPS coordinates. The BMC will then issue a formal notice to the vehicle owners, signed by a civic official at the central level.
“The contractor will store the vehicles at a designated plot—either leased or owned—and will pursue the necessary clearances from the relevant authorities, with correspondence from the BMC,” said the official from the traffic department.
The shift to contractors comes in response to the difficulties faced by BMC wards in keeping track of and disposing of abandoned vehicles. The ward offices, previously responsible for the entire process, struggled with the volume of work and limited resources. By outsourcing the task, the BMC hopes to ensure a more efficient and timely response to the problem.
Mahendra Agarwal, chief engineer (traffic), emphasised that the contractors will now be responsible for the entire lifecycle of dealing with abandoned vehicles. “The contractors must follow the end-to-end process, from identifying and scrapping the vehicle to obtaining NOCs as per the norms set by the encroachment removal department,” he said.
As part of the agreement, contractors will be allowed to scrap the abandoned vehicles and retain the scrap value. However, the revenue generated from the scrapping process will be deposited with the BMC, contributing to municipal funds. This system prevents vehicles from being dumped in scrapyards and ensures that they are disposed of in an organised manner.
The BMC has already taken steps to ensure that contractors chosen for the job will be experienced in handling abandoned vehicles and scrapping them responsibly. This will help ensure the process is done in compliance with environmental and legal regulations.
The original deadline for submitting tenders passed on Monday without any response. As a result, the BMC has decided to extend the deadline by two weeks to give contractors more time to apply.