‘Nearly 3 lakh e-passes issued in a week’

Figure accounts for 50% of the applications submitted by individuals, industries

13/05/2020, T. RAMAKRISHNAN,CHENNAI

Around three lakh e-passes for movement during the COVID-19 lockdown have been issued in the last one week, after the introduction of the Tamil Nadu e-pass system (https://tnepass.tnega.org/), according to the government.

The figure accounts for 50% of the applications submitted by individuals and industries. About six lakh applications have been processed, of which 4.5 lakh are from individuals and the rest from industries.

Only companies permitted to operate by the State government can apply for the e-pass. The passes — intra-State and inter-State — are being issued by the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA) for four reasons — medical emergency, death, wedding and cases of stranded persons.

According to a TNeGA official, on an average, each application gets cleared within 30 minutes, especially those in respect of medical emergencies and death. As there were complaints that applications citing the two purposes had been pending with some District Collectors for more than 24 hours, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami asked officials whether a provision could be made for alerting the Collectors automatically. Subsequently, an automated alert system was created for the District Collectors and the Commissioner of the Greater Chennai Corporation.

“Every hour, the Collectors are being alerted about any application for medical emergency or death that has been pending for more than an hour. Now, the applications are, on an average, being cleared in 20 to 25 minutes,” explained the official. He added that a “close watch” is being kept on applications being received by the Collectors.

In respect of inter-State movement, applications land at the decision box of the State Control Room at the TNeGA, and in the case of intra-State movement, applications go to the Collectors concerned/Commissioner of the Greater Chennai Corporation.

In respect of the latter, the Collectors of the destination districts are being informed about the issue of passes so that they plan accordingly. In the case of inter-State movement of people, since Tuesday, applicants are having to furnish documentary proof of having obtained the permission of the destination State, except for Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The new requirement has been introduced following the insistence of other States.

The official said that invariably, absence of proper documents in support of identity or address was the main reason for rejection of applications.

Also, essential details such as the reason for travel and vehicle number will have to be provided, the official said.

“If all the details and documentary proof are provided, it is highly likely that applications will be approved,” the official added.