As the Telangana police refused to honour the ePasses issued by their Andhra Pradesh counterparts, hundreds of vehicles were queued up near the Pullur toll gate on AP-Telangana border in Jogulamba-Gadwal district here on Sunday.
Similar scenes were witnessed at Ramapuram check-post in Suryapet district of Telangana where police did not allow vehicles without e-passes coming from Andhra Pradesh over Garikapadu in Krishna district.
The check-posts en route at Mathampalli and Pulichintala within Telangana borders were also closed, but the traffic into the State was allowed from Kodad. Suryapet SP R. Bhaskaran said that they were allowing only vehicles from AP with valid e-passes to enter Telangana.
The police denied entry of vehicles into the State, stating that e-passes issued by the AP police were not valid in Telangana and they did not receive any instructions from higher-ups. As a result, several ambulances carrying COVID-19 patients who required immediate medical assistance were also stuck in the traffic jam. However, a few metres towards Kurnool, things were normal as AP police were allowing vehicles with e-passes issued by the TS police. “We have been stuck in traffic since morning. Police are not allowing us to enter the State even after getting a pass from AP to travel till Hyderabad,” said D Suresh, a techie returning to the city from Bengaluru.
He said that several persons, especially natives of Kurnool and Kadapa, who were not permitted to cross the border returned to their places. “But, I am a native of Hyderabad working in Bengaluru,” Mr. Suresh said, adding that police asked him to stay till 6 a.m. on Monday and travel home during the lockdown relaxation time.
Server down
“They are not letting us in and asking to apply for the e-pass from Telangana police portal, which is down since morning,” said another traveller on the border. When contacted, Gadwal SP Ranjan Ratan Kumar did not respond to the calls by this correspondent.
The e-pass dashboard of Telangana police website has been down since Sunday morning. Sources in the department maintained that the IT team was upgrading the dashboard by adding some more category passes, including Medical Emergency — go to hospital and two more options — as a result people were unable to access the dashboard. The police were not even able to approve or reject the passes of those who applied since Saturday evening.