The facility of e-pass, introduced in the district with effect from 13th of April 2020 initially for people residing in red/ Containment zones, shall now be extended to the entire district from tomorrow.
Deputy Commissioner Jammu informed that since the launch of this service in the district, more than 5100 requests were received from people of various purposes such as Medical Emergency, Grocery Shops, Chemist Shops etc and also people desirous of moving out of the district /UT.
Deputy Commissioner also informed that a separate cell has been established in his office for responding to various e-pass requests being received. This cell, headed by a senior officer, has submitted a detailed report after disposing off majority of the applications. It was pointed out that out of more than 5100 applications received, more than 4900 applications had been rejected because either the grounds for obtaining e-pass were not permissible under Ministry of Home Affairs Guidelines or were not routed through the official channel as per the Standard Operating Procedure put in place by the State Executive Committee.
Expressing concerns over such a high volume of e-pass requests coming from people for undertaking movements / activities otherwise not permitted during lockdown, the Deputy Commissioner directed all the Magistrates of the District to counsel and advise the people to adhere to the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Union Ministry of home Affairs, for staying at home unless warranted for official reasons or health emergencies. The public is refrained from making frivolous requests and misuse of the e-pass will invite penal action under relevant provisions of NDMA.
Extrapolating the number of requests received in the last one week, number of persons deployed in the pass management cell has been increased to cater to the expected increase to the number of ePASS requests as a result of extending it to entire district from tomorrow. Also keeping in view the relaxation of operations given to certain economic activities, the flow of ePASS requests will obviously be increased.
After the successful test run of ePASS application for Red / Containment Zones, administration has planned to extend the facility to entire district. People at large can now apply for ePASS which will be delivered to the applicant at his eMail address along with SMS alerts.
A special help line (9541900835, 9541900837) has been established for the said purpose, which will deal with the disposal of ePASS requests related to Medical Emergency and deceased cases within the district. In case of medical emergency, after successful submission of ePASS application or difficulty in application submission, people can contact the help line numbers stated above. No other individual requests shall be entertained at the above mentioned numbers except for above stated reasons as informed by Deputy Commissioner.
Deputy Commissioner also informed that up till now approximately 1000 physical passes have been provided to people for medical emergencies. Besides, more than 7000 physical passes have been issued to the essential services and supply chains for maintaining the smooth flow of essential commodities in the District. It was also informed that the physical passes issued till date will also be treated as valid passes for movement.
General public is also requested at large to use the ePASS facility judiciously so that administration is able to concentrate on genuine requests and ePASS can be issued to the people who are in immediate need of the same.