Huge crowds gathered outside Madurai’s Collectorate on Friday morning, completely disregarding lockdown norms that are in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country. Pandemonium ensued outside the gates following which the authorities were forced to close the government office briefly to restore calm.
The reason why people rushed to the Collectorate was due to a new directive issued by Madurai City Police Commissioner regarding the vehicle passes issued by the Collectorate to essential services and emergencies. Commissioner had said all vehicles moving without passes would be seized. Further, to prevent unnecessary movement of vehicles in the district, the Commissioner reportedly urged Collector’s office to issue vehicle passes with QR code so as to ascertain the authenticity of the passes issued by the government. Additionally, an audio purportedly of a top police officer went viral in which he could be heard saying that from Friday no one will be allowed in ride bikes to go to grocery shops and anyone using vehicles need to have passes.
Following this, several people thronged the Collector’s office to get their vehicle movement passes.
As a result, the Collector’s office has now issued a clarification in which they have said that the new decision on vehicle permit has been suspended. Urging people to shop for essentials within their own area, the clarification reads, “Officers, employees and journalists who come under essential services can follow the existing procedure for their vehicular movement. Permits already issued for essential services will continue. And the decision on the vehicle permit has been suspended.”
The request to include QR Codes in vehicle passes came following reports of several people sticking fake passes on their vehicles to move about in the district. The police were also to begin the implementation of a new app that would track the movement of vehicles across Madurai city from Friday.
According to reports, the app, developed by Madurai-based software company called Turiyo Sys, would store vehicle’s movement information - where it was spotted, and how many times it was stopped - thereby enabling officials to ascertain unauthorised movement and movement outside one’s area for the sake of essential services.
Officials could also enter the registration number of the vehicle’s number plate or just click a photograph of the vehicle and extract details of the vehicle’s authorised movement pass.