No e-pass is required for those travelling within Chennai district, a top official of the Greater Chennai Police clarified on Monday, following a confusion over lockdown orders issued by the Chennai Corporation. Two points in the order issued by the Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Greater Chennai Corporation, created confusion among the masses regarding e-pass applications.
Point number 12 read - “Requests of utmost necessity such as funerals, medical emergencies and other reasons will be sanctioned for travel within and between districts if registered for e-pass over at eregister.tnega.org. The following point says that people travelling within the same district need not apply for an e-pass.
Addressing the confusion, S Vimala, Deputy Commissioner of Police, said “During this lockdown, we have removed the e-pass requirement for persons travelling within the district. For funerals, medical emergencies and other reasons, if the person shows proof in the form of doctor’s prescriptions, death certificate or crematoria receipts, they will be allowed to go. There is no e-pass required. However, persons travelling between districts will be asked for an e-pass,” she said.
Tamil Nadu went into total lockdown from May 24 for a week with stringent measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19. Shops were allowed to function on May 22 and May 23 so that residents could stock up supplies for the coming week.
Starting Monday, all shops except those specifically mentioned are not allowed to function. The government also added that vegetables and fruits will be made available for purchase on vehicles under the auspices of the state horticulture department, as per the latest release.
The current lockdown only exempts a few services. There are pharmacies, milk, water and newspaper distribution. ATM services are open. Restaurants will function on delivery basis from 6 am to 10 am, 12 pm to 3 pm and 6 pm to 9 pm. Swiggy, Zomato and other delivery services will also follow these timings.
E-commerce services will function from 8 am to 6 pm. Private companies, banks, insurance companies, and IT firms have been asked to work from home only.