Vehicle lifters find Imphal a soft target
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, May 16 2011:
Vehicle-lifting is widespread in Imphal, particularly in parking lots and even in houses of individuals largely because they are soft targets to vehicle-lifters.
A compiled data of cases related with missing of vehicles registered with police has revealed that 160 vehicles mostly two-wheelers were stolen from areas of Imphal east and west district, particularly areas covered by the city police, Imphal police and Porompat police, during the last four and a half months since January 2011 .
The data indicates sudden rise in the number of missing vehicles since the government adopted a strict rule prohibiting parking of vehicles in the bazar areas.
Since the beginning of May which also coincided with the enforcement of the strict parking rules, one vehicle was found missing every day.
At least 14 vehicle lifting cases were registered with the police stations in Imphal west during this month.
Included among the stolen vehicles was one Bolero Jeep, one Auto-rickshaw and rests were two wheelers.
Among the missing two-wheelers Honda Activa scooters was the maximum.
An analysis of the brands of the vehicles lifted, Kinetic Honda was most targeted vehicle by the lifters.
Vehicle-lifters also targeted four-wheel vehicles as cases of stolen Maruti cars and Santro cars were also recorded in the police stations.
The month-wise record of cases of Imphal West revealed that the highest number of missing vehicles was recorded in January with 36 cases.
With 28 cases March was the month with the second highest number of missing vehicles.
April was in the third position with 26 cases of stolen vehicles.
In January, 2011 the total number of vehicles lifted was 36.Out of the total vehicles stolen away, 27 were Kinetic Honda scooters.
The others included three Maruti cars, two Alto cars, one Santro car and three Bajaj Pulsar motorcycles.
A total of 17 cases of missing vehicles were registered in various police stations within the Imphal East and West in February.
Fifteen Activa Hondas, two Bajaj Pulsars, one Yamaha and a Kinetic Honda were stolen during the month.
In April, the total number of vehicles stolen by vehicle lifters was 26.Out of this 20 were Activa Hondas, two Kinetic Hondas, one each of Bajaj Sunny, Bajaj Pulsar, Suzuki Xpress and a Yamaha motorcycle.
Most of the vehicles were lifted from parking lots at the bazar areas of Imphal city where owners were charged ' 5 as parking fees.
When the owners lodged complaints with the authorities collecting the parking fee, they replied that they were only collecting the parking fees and were not responsible for the loss of vehicles.
Not satisfied with the reply of the parking fee collectors, owners are demanding a full investigation into the cases of stolen vehicles so that further loss of vehicles could be checked.
During the same period, Imphal East district police registered at least 24 cases of missing vehicles in four months from January to April.
Out if this two were cars.
As per the record, eight vehicles including three Activa Hondas, two CBZ motorcycles, one Dio scooter, one Bajaj Pulsar and a Santro car were stolen during April.
In March, it was recorded that five vehicles including four Activa Hondas, one CBZ were stolen.
Four vehicles, three Activa Hondas and one Maruti van were stolen during February while seven vehicles, three Activa Hondas, one each of Maruti Zen, Bajaj Pulsar, Honda Access and a new brand of scooter were stolen in January.