THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state police received close to two lakh requests for emergency travel passes from the public till Sunday night triggering a concern that the gratuitous use of the facility could sabotage the purpose of the lockdown.
The state government imposed the lockdown from Saturday to curb the spread of COVID and entrusted the police with the task of allotting passes to restrict inessential journeys.
However, the police department was in for a rude shock as they received travel requests that crossed one lakh by noon through the portal that became operational on Saturday night. The police had to upgrade the server capacity to allow smooth functioning of the website (pass.bsafe.kerala.gov.in).
The police website has been programmed so as to allow the public to apply only a day ahead of their scheduled travel. The department sources said by Sunday evening, they had received 1.75 lakh requests of which 15,761 were allowed.
As many as 81,000 applications were summarily rejected, while the rest 77,000 were referred for further verification. The police department had set aside 60-8o officers at a time across the state to process the requests.
Police personnel of each district processed the applications arising from their limits on their own and had posted Special Branch sleuths to handle them. However, the surge in the number of applicants left the cops in distress prompting State Police Chief Loknath Behera to issue a statement calling for the restrained use of the facility. "The passes should be used in emergency situations only," he said.
Meanwhile, police sources said strict action will be taken against those who defy restrictions and hit the streets on Monday. "All applications were received for Monday’s travel. If we take into account the number of people who might be travelling using the affidavits, then the number of people who might attempt to travel on Monday would be very high. If allowed, that would upset the applecart. So we will be acting tough against those who venture out on the streets on Monday without valid reasons and documents. Their vehicles will be impounded," said a police source.
Of the applicants, many wanted to travel for medical necessities, while several others had marriages or housewarming functions to attend and jobs to appear for. But what unnerved the officers was a sizeable number of applicants were there just to check whether the online system was functioning, while scores of people wanted the pass to legalise their non-essential journeys.
A senior officer told The New Indian Express that there was no option of crosschecking the needs cited by the applicants and that was affecting the procedure. "The cops are now junking applications on the basis of their discretionary powers. Since they are doing it manually, they are up against a tough task. The problem is that even genuine applications are at times getting rejected," he said.
The second day of the lockdown witnessed reduced vehicular movement as the cops maintained a strict vigil across the state. Only travellers with proper affidavits and genuine reasons were allowed to continue with their journey, while the rest were turned away.
As many as 3,065 people were booked and 1,087 vehicles seized across the state on Sunday for violating COVID restrictions. The cops also took action against those who travelled well beyond their limits using the affidavits.
The cops said the affidavits cannot be used for travelling for more than 3km. It was found that several people used the affidavits to travel more than 3km without any valid reasons.
"They said they were out to buy essential items. But when we checked, it came to our notice that they had travelled 20-25km using the affidavits on the pretext of shopping. Actions were taken against such people," said a city police officer.
81,000 applications rejected
Police department sources said by Sunday evening, they had received 1.75 lakh requests of which 15,761 were allowed. As many as 81,000 applications were summarily rejected, while the rest 77,000 were referred for further verification
