Pune: Red tape, jurisdiction issues pose problems to travel pass seekers

Satyanarayan Iyer & Asseem Shaikh | TNN | Updated: Apr 15, 2020, 07:34 IST

The Pune police are issuing digital passes to people for commute within Pune under certain categories. (File photo)

The Pune police are issuing digital passes to people for commute within Pune under certain categories. (File p...Read More

PUNE: A man had to admit his aged mother to a hospital in Pimple Saudagar. When he went to the only open fuel station in Kalewadi, they refused to fill up his tank and asked him to visit the nearest police station to get a pass. The Kalewadi police refused to issue him one.
A senior officer directed him to go to the police station nearest to his home or hospital. When asked if online option was available, the person was directed to a helpline, where his call went unanswered. The man is yet to get the pass.
Last week, e-commerce executives had a tough time in getting passes for delivery boys. When they got some, the passes issued in Pune were not honoured in Pimpri Chinchwad. They were told to come to the Pimpri Chinchwad offices to procure passes for operations there. “There is a lot of red tape here. One has to wait for a day and submit a lot of documents to get passes,” an executive of an e-commerce firm said.
Problems like these notwithstanding, senior police officers insisted no restriction had been imposed on emergency travel. Pune police commissioner K Venkatesham told TOI, “We shall talk to the Pimpri Chinchwad police commissioner and discuss the problems faced by people in commuting between the two cities and we shall see how it can be streamlined.”
The Pune police are issuing digital passes to people for commute within the city under certain categories.
The Pimpri Chinchwad deputy commissioner of police, Sudhir Hiremath, said, “In genuine cases like visiting hospitals, we have not stopped any person from commuting from here to Pune. Petrol pumps are functioning as per the order of the district collector. We help people in getting petrol in emergency situations.”
He said, “We have not issued digital passes. We are operating manually and allowing essential services like delivery boys of online aggregators to offer services to clients, but they will have to show identity cards.”