A Keralite struggles to get emergency pass

BENGALURU: While there are three helplines to ensure that passes are provided for emergency inter-district or inter-state travels, people are struggling to receive them. In one such case, Vishak Raj who travelled to Bengaluru from Kerala, is stuck in the city since the lockdown kicked in. However, an emergency cropped up as his father was taken to ICU. It forced Vishak to call up the helplines at the office of the Additional Director General of Police (Communications Logistics Modernisation).

“I called up all numbers which did not respond initially. After several attempts, one of the numbers responded and the staffer asked me to visit the office on M G Road with an NOC from Kerala. When I enquired about NOC, they were clueless,” Vishak said.ADGP RP Sharma told TNIE that he was not aware of the documents required.

However, P Manivannan, secretary to the Department of Information & Public Relations (DIPR), said a letter from the office of the Director General of Police would suffice. A highly-placed source informed TNIE that issues crop at Karnataka-Kerala border. “Several Keralites had taken the DGP’s letter and tried to travel back to their hometown, but they were turned away (by police).”

“I cannot even leave my place of stay because roads are closed and police do not listen when I tell them I want to get a pass. The helplines aren’t very effective either,” he said pointing out that it has been three days since he has been trying to get a travel pass.