Coronavirus: Glitches test the patience of e-travel pass applicants

CHENNAI: Hardly a week after Tamil Nadu completely switched over to online registration for issuing travel passes, technical glitches are giving a tough ride to the applicants. They complain of several issues including poor server speed, lack of a dedicated helpline, non-updation of application status and complicated registration process.

People who want to make inter or intra State travels have to apply through tnepass.tnega.org (own vehicles) and rtos.nonresidenttamil.org (government transport) to get the passes.“Previously when Greater Chennai Corporation was issuing the passes, we could easily apply for attending the marriage of family members. There was an option to upload necessary documents online.

However, in the new link there is nothing as such and it is only asking for Aadhaar details. They canceled my application twice without citing any reason,” said Muthu Karthick, who has been applying for pass to travel from Chennai to Madurai.

Another resident of Chennai, LT Anand, who is seeking vehicle pass to Coimbatore said, “Absence of a helpline number is one of the main issues. People who don’t have access to technology or those who have issues while applying for the pass do not know who to complain to. Moreover, the server is extremely slow.”

Similar is the issue with inter-state travel. Manoj Govindaraj who applied for pass from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka said the latter’s system is more streamlined.

“Here, to apply for more than one person, an extra window with an excel sheet pops up where we have to type the details of people separately and later upload it again. In Karnataka’s system you can directly enter the names. Moreover, in the e-pass sanctioned by Tamil Nadu, only one person’s name is mentioned. Instead, all names must be written to avoid confusion at check posts,” he said.

While the application for own vehicle passes shows the status (accepted/rejected/pending), no such information is available to those applying for travel through government transport. They just get a message that their application has been registered, but there is no way to track it.