On first day of Unlock, confusion in Chennai as e-registration portal crashes – The New Indian Express

Chennai News

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Ambiguity over e-registrations for movement within the city caused a lot of confusion among Chennai residents on Monday. The e-registration portal https://eregister.tnega.org crashed and remained non-functional for over two hours. According to senior officials, over 60 lakh people had applied for e-registrations on Monday.

As part of the relaxation of the lockdown, the government had allowed individual grocery shops, vegetable shops, stationery shops and a few others to function between 6 am and 5 pm from Monday. Select industries and self-employed people including electricians, IT service persons, plumbers, motor mechanics and carpenters were also allowed to function with e-registration.

However, the portal had no option for e-registration of individual skilled labourers, rued electricians and plumbers who tried applying on Monday morning. The portal was later updated in the evening to include them.

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“On Monday morning, I tried for nearly an hour to register on the portal. As there was no option for individuals, I filled in details under MSME. But I am unable to fill the PAN and several other details needed for registration,” said S Krishnamurthy, an electrician from Korattur.

Similarly, K Sridhar, a resident of Villivakkam said, “The portal went down by 10 am. I tried for nearly 90 minutes to register online for visiting a hospital, but didn’t receive the OTP. The auto driver refused to carry me without e-registration.”

An auto driver with a ride-hailing company said that customers needed to have e-registrations before booking autos.

“If it’s a really close drop, we take rides. Otherwise we ask them to get e-registrations before booking an auto,” he said.

A senior official from the Tamil Nadu e-Governance agency told The New Indian Express that the issue has been resolved and the website was running smoothly as of 4 pm on Monday evening.

“We anticipated four times more applications than earlier but we had ten times more than the registrations we had previously. We have received over 60 lakh registrations today,” he said.

E-registrations for those travelling by bikes/autos/cars within the district are allowed only for three reasons — medical emergencies, death and post death rituals and for those leaving TN by road. For this, residents are required to upload their proof of travel reason document and a copy of their identity cards — Aadhaar, ration card, driving licence, PAN card or passport.

Those traveling for non-medical emergencies do not have the option to apply for e-registrations in the current system.

“My wife’s parents are ailing and one of them also broke their spectacles without which they have trouble seeing. We tried to e-register to bring them essentials and sort out their issues but there wasn’t an option to do so,” said P Radharaman, a resident of Adyar.

Source: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2021/jun/07/on-first-day-of-unlock-confusion-in-chennai-as-e-registration-portal-crashes-2312947.html