Police struggle to enforce lockdown due to excess vehicle passes

Kevin Mendonsa | TNN | Apr 13, 2020, 04:22 IST

Mangaluru: The police in Dakshina Kannada are at the receiving end due to the issuing of too many vehicle passes, without any cross-checking. Police say that they cannot implement the lockdown properly, due to too many vehicle passes being issued. They say that due to this, many people are roaming around in the district, most of them without any important work.
Sources from the district administration and Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) claim that as many as 10,000 passes were issued in the city limits. In Dakshina Kannada, e-pass and other passes are issued by the district administration, Mangaluru City Corporation, Covid-19 war rooms, banks, hospitals, essential industries and others.
According to police, passes have been issued to people without any cross-checking. “I was conducting checking at a gate near Panambur for about an hour, and in such a short duration, I noticed that more than 1,200 people with passes entered and exited from the city. With such leniency, it is impossible to enforce the lockdown strictly. The authorities should have been more careful while issuing passes,” criticised a senior police official. “The movement of heavy vehicles in the city and district have reduced, but vehicles can still be seen plying on the roads round the clock,” said a police official.
Another police officer, who was conducting checking at the entrance of the Circuit House, alleged that they have noticed several people are misusing passes issued for emergency services. “We have learnt that a single pass is being used by multiple people. Apart from it, many have printed fake passes. Issuing so many passes is not serving the purpose of the lockdown,”
Have stopped issuing passes: DC
Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh said that the district administration has stopped issuing any kinds of passes, except for daily passes for medical emergencies, from Sunday.
Asked whether there were complaints of misuse or fake passes, Rupesh revealed that the police have expressed they are finding it difficult to manage the movement of vehicles, due to passes being issued in large numbers. “We are temporarily suspending issuing of passes, except in cases of medical emergencies,” she said. E-passes were issued by the assistant commissioner’s office in Mangaluru and Puttur. Inter-district passes are issued by the Dakshina Kannada district police and district administration.
Police intensify crackdown on vehicles violating lockdown
Mangaluru: The Mangaluru city police is all set to take tough measures against those who are violating the lockdown, especially motorists who are roaming in the commissionerate jurisdiction, without a valid pass.
Police intensified the checking of vehicles in the city on Saturday. Police said that they are planning to seize the vehicles of those violating the lockdown.
A police officer said that all vehicles, except those engaged in essential services, will be seized, and the owner must appear before court. Earlier, vehicles that violated the lockdown and were seized, were released after the accused paid the penalty.
City police commissioner P S Harsha was unavailable for comment.