No clarity if e-pass needed to travel within city

No clarity if e-pass needed to travel within city

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 21.06.2020

Is an e-pass needed for travel within Chennai during the June 19-June 30 lockdown?

This is the question plaguing many private and public sector employees who are either working in essential medical services or places like petrol pumps.

Greater Chennai Corporation is getting many questions regarding the same.

For instance, Kodambakkam resident V Gopalakrishnan asked if an authorisation from his company stating that he was working with a firm which was engaged in manufacture of medical devices needed for Covid-19 testing, was enough for travel, or he needed an e-pass.

“Many of my friends who are working in other industries or petrol pumps are being issued such letter by their employers. But they have not taken the epass,” he said.

A senior official with a central government agency told TOI that they had to mass apply for e-pass through the website.

However, it was not approved until they went to senior officials in the corporation headquarters. “A friend in a private company also faced this issue,” he said.

On Saturday, a store selling food items tweeted to the Greater Chennai Corporation asking that they had applied for e-pass in the essential services category, but the approval was still pending and that they were unable to proceed with procurement of fruits and vegetables.

Another company who is an MSME and an essential gloves and masks manufacturer which supplies the essentials to customers outside Chennai corporation limits said they had applied for an e-pass but was yet to get it.

Another resident had a doubt if they needed an epass to go and receive a visitor from the Chennai international airport. This is because the GCC has asked the public to get an e-pass for travellers from the airport.

While civic body officials in-charge of e-pass were not available for comment, the guidelines put out by the corporation on their social media said that epass is needed for those travelling within Chennai for marriages, medical reasons and funeral after they provide proof.

The issue is troubling private and public sector employees who are either working in essential medical services or places like fuel outlets