Gurgaon Sector 29 impound yard uses Vahan Setu to locate vehicles

Ganesh, an Ashok Vihar resident, spent about 40 minutes looking for his impounded bike at the Sector 29 traffic police yard before an officer helped him locate it.

The four-acre yard holds around 3,000 vehicles in tightly packed rows. After clearing challans, owners previously had to search the premises for their vehicles.

Traffic police have introduced Vahan Setu, a system that records the row where a vehicle is parked when it enters the yard. Two operators photograph the vehicle and the officer who brings it in, log its location and verify documents when an owner or authorised person arrives to collect it. Police also photograph the person receiving the vehicle.

Police processed 55 vehicles through the system on its first day. The yard currently has sections marked A to D, and police plan to extend the signage to Z. Each row will hold about 50 vehicles.

Vahan Setu cannot immediately locate vehicles parked before Tuesday or vehicles whose details were not entered into the system. The yard also lacks CCTV coverage, adequate lighting and fencing. A traffic police officer said the department would raise concerns about these gaps, along with overgrown bushes and mosquitoes that complicate night-time management, with the concerned authorities.