The Bengaluru police has exempted certain categories of people providing essential services from carrying movement passes during the lockdown.
Employees of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), banks, courts, insurance officials, doctors and staff working in medical establishments will no longer be required to carry movement passes in the city during the lockdown enforced till April 14 due to contain the spread of coronavirus in India.
Media professionals, foreign consulate officials and private security guards carrying official IDs have also been exempted from carrying movement passes.
The list of exemptions was decided at a meeting of the Karnataka State Executive Committee (SEC), held on Thursday.
The decision was taken after thousands of people queued up to obtain movement passes for themselves and their colleagues following the Bengaluru police’s announcement to allow movement of essential services on Wednesday. The passes were issued at the offices of the Deputy Commissioners of Police across Bengaluru’s eight divisions.
According to SD Sharanappa, DCP, Bengaluru (East), 2,603 passes have been issued at his office since the system was put in place on Wednesday. In addition to this, 666 passes for two-wheeler vehicles and 544 passes for four-wheeler vehicles have been issued. As per Chethan Singh Rathore, DCP, Bengaluru (Central), 2,100 people were issued passes on Thursday alone.
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But despite the exemptions announced by the police, TNM met Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) officials, grocery shop owners, bank employees and security guards standing in queues outside the offices of DCPs. “We are BESCOM staff but our vehicle was stopped by the police on (Thursday) morning. To avoid any more hassle, we decided to apply for passes,” said a person who was in the queue outside Cubbon Park Police Station, which is the office of DCP Bengaluru (Central).
Another person who runs a supermarket in Indiranagar said that his staff members had a similar issue. “The staff found it difficult to reach the shop since the police stopped them. So, we decided to apply for passes. We turned up on Thursday and Friday, and waited for hours in the queue but we are yet to receive our passes,” he said, standing in the queue formed outside Halasuru police station, which is the office of DCP Bengaluru (East).
There was also little physical distancing practiced in the queues formed outside the Cubbon Park police station on Thursday.
Public health experts say that this could also increase the spread of COVID-19.
Speaking to TNM, T Sundararaman, former Executive Director of the National Health Systems Resource Centre, an advisory body to the health ministry, said, “Yes, the risk level increases if people are gathered together in a crowd because if one person is infected, it could put others at risk. But if you shut down groceries and other essentials, people will break out anyway. It is better to create a system where people maintain physical distance and are participating in this as willing volunteers.”
On Thursday, the Karnataka SEC decided to allow a list of essential service providers to commute in Bengaluru by showing their official IDs to the police. Earlier, only government employees, Karnataka High Court officials, and goods vehicles had been exempted from having passes to move freely in Bengaluru.
“(In order) to minimise the harassment and ensure the smooth functioning of essential services, we decided to exempt many people from carrying movement passes,” said DCP Sharanappa.
Alongside the exemptions for bank employees, insurance officials and healthcare workers, print and electronic media professionals and foreign consulate officials carrying their official IDs will also be allowed to commute during the lockdown without the need for a pass. Private security guards and goods vehicles transporting essential supplies will also be permitted by the police to commute without passes.