KOCHI: Police claim that many applying for e-passes out of curiosity are delaying the processing of genuine applications. Till Tuesday evening (6pm), 3,79,618 people applied for the pass and only 44,902 were approved.
As many as 2,89,178 were rejected as they were found to be in the non-emergency category. The rest of the applications are being scrutinised. State police chief DGP Loknath Behera said that those who misuse the online pass facilities will be penalised.
Three or four officers from the state special branch have been designated to manually verify the passes and give approval round the clock. Police media centre Deputy Director V P Pramod Kumar said people applying multiple times after initial rejections, just to check if the system work, should understand they are delaying genuine requests.
“The verification process is being done manually. Applicants who write ‘going to hospital’ might get rejected . But another applicant who specifically writes his appointment number and details of the hospital might get approval,” Pramod added. Those working in emergency services need not apply for a pass.