Tamil Nadu government eases travel curbs, issuance of e-pass

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Friday ordered issuance of e-pass from August 17 for hassle-free inter-district travel and appealed to the people to use the e-pass responsibly.

The members of the public who apply for e-pass with details of their aadhaar or ration card to travel across the state for important work would get permission immediately, an official release said here.

This decision has been taken considering public good, Palaniswami said and appealed to the people to use the greater leeway responsibly and avoid unnecessary journeys.

"I appeal to people to apply for e-pass and travel only for journeys that are unavoidable," he said and urged the public to cooperate with the government by following the Covid-19 norms to help prevent the virus spread.

The government's move comes days after a matter related to the issuance of passes had reached theMadras High Court. Also, the DMK chief M K Stalin had demanded the government to do away with the system and questioned the state for sticking to the regulation when the Centre itself had said that such passes were not compulsory.

On August 6, Palaniswami, replying to a question on e-passes, had said, "Issuance of passes has been simplified and an additional team is deployed for the task. The restriction mandating e-pass is only to see that people do not travel unnecessarily."

Police had arrested at least eight men in the state over complaints like alleged creation of fake e-pass, luring people to approach them to get the passes and facilitation of passes for a bribe. While five, including two government employees, were held in Chennai, two were arrested in Tiruchirapalli and one was held in Vellore.