Chennai: Vaccine as excuse, people crowd roads, police at sea – Times of India

CHENNAI: The complete lockdown has been extended till June 7, but motorists continue to hit the streets armed with excuses of going to a vaccination centre or hospital. With no clear instructions given, many field level police personnel are at loss too. The sector-wise checks at 348 places are not being carried out.
On Monday, places like Poonamallee, Anna Salai and Broadway were choked with vehicles, police said. Barricades have been erected at check points, but motorists simply fish out identity cards and are allowed to go. Even the e-registration procedure introduced to curb movement does not appear to be working. “With no mechanism to check if the reason is genuine or not, anyone can do e-registration and proceed. All one has to do is to give a mobile number and enter the OTP. He system accepts whatever documents are submitted,” said advocate V S Suresh.
Everyone has the provision to get e-registration and move anywhere in the city. “Police just let them go once the paper is shown, leading to people not taking lockdown seriously.”
After the government extended the lockdown to June 7, dos and don’ts, as per a May 29 order, were sent to all police personnel in the city. They were forwarded on all police WhatsApp groups.
“Most people travelling in the city either show their official identity card or an e-pass. This can be streamlined only if the institutions get e-passes on behalf of their staff through the Tamil Nadu eregistration website,” said police commissioner Shankar Jiwal.
He said that he had suggested to the Tamil Nadu disaster management authority to direct people in places such as banks, telecom firms, petrol bunks, newspaper offices, private firms as well as state and central government offices to get the e-pass through their HR officials or managers. “This would restrict more people from hitting the road,” he said.
Moreover, the penalty amount levied on violators by the traffic police and the law and order wing differs. While those in the first wing collect ?100 from the bikers for not wearing masks and ?500 for venturing out, the law and order wing books people coming out without valid reasons and collects ?200 from anyone not wearing masks.