TN issues nearly 1.20 lakh e-passes in a single day

Ever since lockdown began, the government imposed restrictions on the movement of the public, mandating e-pass to allow any person to travel. For the last four months, a strict e-pass system has been in place to control people from travelling to other districts and spreading the virus. As the spread has come down the recent weeks and several complaints from the public about their request for e-passes being rejected, the government has now revised the guidelines.

A few days ago Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy announced that e-pass will be approved immediately to everyone, starting from Monday. As per the new rules, it was decided to issue e-pass to any applicant who submitted Aadhaar or ration card along with contact numbers.

Ever since the government has relaxed the e-pass norms, as much as 1.2 lakh e-passes was granted yesterday- highest single-day grant, to travel across the state.

“From Monday, e-passes within the State are auto-generated and it is a hassle-free system. As the economy is carefully opened up, this will be a great comfort to citizens,” Chennai Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said.

With the new hassle-free e-pass, the toll plazas around the city, especially Paranur toll plaza near Vandalur was jammed with vehicles. The traffic stagnated for hours together as citizens who are held up in different towns were held up due to COVID restrictions started returning to the State Capital.

With the government relaxing the norms for e-passes for travel within the State, the Greater Chennai Corporation has requested people to use the facility for genuine purposes only and help the Government curb the pandemic situation.