Maharashtr Transport Minister Anil Parab. (File)
Ahead of the Ganesh festival, the state government said Thursday it will develop a separate portal to issue e-passes to people travelling to their hometowns in the Konkan region in private vehicles. State Transport Minister Anil Parab also met transport and police officials to discuss the issues faced by the people in obtaining the e-passes among others.
“There were several complaints from the people saying there is no reply to their applications for e-passes or the applications are rejected. So, instructions have been given to the police to set up a separate portal for the people who will travel through private vehicles to Konkan for the Ganesh festival,” Parab said after the meeting. The minister said efforts were also on to start the portal in a day or two.
Two days ago, the state government had announced that people wanting to travel to the Konkan region for the festival could board state buses without mandatory e-passes for inter-district movement. People travelling in private vehicles, however, would require e-passes, it said.
The government had also urged people, who want to travel to Konkan, to reach there before August 12 and remain in home quarantine for 10 days. Those who travel after August 12, it said, would have to get tested for the virus 48 hours before the travel and only those found negative would be allowed to travel.
Lakhs of people living in Mumbai and its suburbs, travel to their hometowns in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts in the Konkan region every year during the festival, which will begin on August 22 this year. With several restrictions on inter-district movement due to the Covid-19 pandemic, people from the region, where the Shiv Sena has a strong presence, had demanded some relaxations.
On Thursday, Parab also reviewed the traffic issues faced by the people while travelling to Konkan. “The process to check e-passes on the main roads slows down traffic movement. So, instructions have been given to check e-passes inside the villages so that traffic movement is not affected,” he said.
MSRTC begins bus service to Konkan
Twenty-two buses of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) left for Konkan on Thursday ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi. The service was expected to start from Wednesday but was called off due to the heavy rainfall.
MSRTC will run point-to-point services from main bus depots in Mumbai, Pune, and Palghar to the districts or talukas in the region. The corporation will run 400 buses between August 6 and 12 and has received reservations for 3,000 people so far. The highest bookings have been made for August 11 and 12, when the corporation will run 150 buses.
“We allow bookings for a group of 22 people. Single tickets will have to be taken even in case of group bookings. Those opting for group bookings will be dropped up to their villages,” a spokesperson of MSRTC said.
Private operators, too, have started ferrying passengers from July 27, with nearly 30 buses departing from Mumbai every day. Harsh Kotak of Mumbai Bus Chalak Malak Sanghatna said e-passes mandatory for inter-district travel in private buses. “The government is clearly giving an advance to its corporation while the private bus operators are struggling to procure e-passes,” he said.
Kotak said only a handful of the total 38,000 buses in the MMR region were functioning as e-passes require that all taxes and papers should be updated. “The rules imposed by the government has severely affected the private operators who were hoping to make up their losses during the festival session,” he added.