Mid-day: Pune-based IT firm launches website, claims it will come in handy for cops, insurance companies and RTO.

A Pune-based IT company has come up with a virtual solution for recovery of missing or stolen vehicles, literally. According to Vinay Deshpande, director of G N Solutions, usually, vehicle owners have no option but to run from pillar to post enquiring about their missing vehicles.

But the portal — www.missing vehicle.co.in — is touted to be a handy tool not only for the victims, but for the police, insurance companies and the RTO also. As part of its corporate social responsibility, G N Solutions launched the portal last fortnight. Senior employees of the firm, Mahesh Kulkarni and Sunita Kulkarni, were instrumental in creating the portal.

The portal aims to create a comprehensive and latest data of missing and found vehicles that would help the cops trace the vehicles. It has received 16 queries from places such as Pune, Mumbai and Nashik.

According to Kulkarni, theft of vehicle is a heart breaking experience for owners. They feel helpless as they can do little to trace or recover their vehicles. The victims are completely left at the mercy of the police, who are often reluctant to register an FIR or pursue the case. And if at all a case is lodged, the vehicle owners can do nothing except for doing the rounds of police stations and making periodic enquiry about the case. “The owner has no option but to wait for the police to solve the case,” he said.

Now, the owner can take advantage of the data available on the portal and verify whether his vehicle is in the list of found vehicles. The owner should record his name, make, model, registration no, engine/chassis no of the vehicle, insurance company, policy number and also the place where the vehicle was stolen, date and time of the theft with FIR details. “The information would continue to be display on the portal until the vehicle is traced,” Kulkarni said.

Get rewarded!
Anybody who spots an unattended vehicle can update its details on the site and also furnish his own information along with it. “In most cases, the vehicle owner wants to reward the person who has helped trace the vehicle. This is why we are requesting informers to upload information about themselves also,” said Deshpande.

He added the portal would help the police and insurance companies trace missing or stolen vehicles. “This can help the insurance companies to save money for claims from their clients. We are charging insurance companies for providing this service, but the common man shall not pay a single penny for the service,” he said.

If the vehicle is traced out from the web portal, then the owner will have to produce papers, FIR coy and identity proof to claim the same. RTO Arun Yeola said that generally they use National the list prepared by the Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) or the State Crime Record Bureau (SCRB).

The portal can provide the RTO latest information as both NCRB or SCRB gives information of earlier years. “This will certainly help us in making the transaction more transparent and verifying an old vehicle before it gets sold to third party,” he said. Viththal Chavan API, Traffic branch, Faraskhana Police Station, said, “On the traffic duty, we easily recognise abandon vehicles on roads. The new portal will certainly help the police to trace the stolen vehicles as early as possible.”