After the Centre informed all the states to rescind the e-pass system, Jayakumar, Tamil Nadu Minister for Fisheries and Personnel and Administrative Reforms, said that the state government will make a decision only after discussing the issue with concerned officials and the medical expert team in the coming days. The revoking of e-pass is a policy decision and can be taken only after consultation, he said.
The Centre on Saturday issued a circular to the Chief Secretaries of all the states, informing them that there shall be no restrictions on inter-state and intra-state travel of people and goods.
In a letter, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said, “No separate permission/approval/e-permit will be required for such movements. It has been reported that the restrictions on movement are being imposed by various district/states. Such restrictions are creating problems in inter-state movement of goods and services and are impacting the supply chain, resulting in disruption of economic activities.”
Referring to the letter, Jayakumar told a TV channel, “This is a policy decision that the Central government has conveyed to the states. Only the state will decide on the matter based on the spread of coronavirus. Since it’s a policy decision, the Chief Minister will decide after discussions with officials, medical professionals and other people.”
Jayakumar also said, “We implemented the e-pass system because of the coronavirus spread. The e-pass, lockdown and relaxation of the lockdown are duties of the state government. So we implemented e-pass and now we have provided relaxations. Epass is for contact tracing. It will be easy to find the contacts and travel history of coronavirus positive patients with the help of e-pass. People travelling for essentials can get an e-pass and travel.”
The Tamil Nadu government relaxed the e-pass system and declared that the state will provide e-pass for everyone submitting aadhaar or ration card details. On August 14, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said that the e-pass will be approved from August 17 for anyone who is applying for reasons including marriage, death or if the person has been stranded. Chennai witnessed scores of people travelling to the city after the announcement. The Tamil Nadu government issued 1.2 lakh e-passes for inter-district travel by 6 pm on August 17.