In a major relief to the restrictions in obtaining e-pass for inter-district travels in Tamil Nadu, the state government has, on Friday, announced significant relaxations which will loosen the grip of restrictions imposed on traveling across the state in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

In the official statement, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has rolled out the relaxations and said the government would approve e-pass for travel for anyone who applies it for important purposes from August 17. In what has come as the crucial relaxations for the people who are still stranded in the state, the Chief Minister said that he has issued an order to the authorities to approve the e-pass applications immediately from August 17. 

In the statement, the Chief Minister stated that people who are applying with the details of their Aadhaar card or ration card along with their phone numbers for inter-district travels for emergency and important purposes will be given with the e-pass immediately. Currently, the Tamil Nadu government has been giving e-pass only for emergency purposes like marriage, medical emergencies, and deaths. 

The government said that through the current process, it was able to monitor people who carried out inter-district travels and to identify and trace their contacts if they turned to be positive for the COVID-19 viral infection. On Friday, the government has relaxed the tight restrictions which curbed the large-scale inter-district travels by limiting the movements by making the e-pass mandatory to contain the virus spread. The major development has come when the e-pass system in Tamil Nadu has come under public scrutiny. 

The process of acquiring the e-pass from the government was criticized as in larger cases, the output was a delay or a rejection of the e-pass applications, which burdened the people as they have got stranded in their home state. Transporation channels have been under a ban and the government had tightened the rules on the movements of people between the districts. 

However, the government has slackened the restrictions on Friday by stating that it would provide e-pass for anyone who requires it for the important works from August 17.  By citing that the decision has been taken based on the interest of people, the Chief Minister further instructed people to use it in a responsible way and to refrain from the unnecessary travels. He asked the people to get e-pass only for unavoidable work and appealed to the people to extend their cooperation for the government's order. However, the government said that there would be no changes in the restrictions for people who come to Tamil Nadu from other states and abroad and prevailing regulations would be in place for the influx of people from other regions.

According to the reports, the government's order on relaxing the e-pass has come two days after it had informed the Madras High Court that it would be installing a committee to regulate the e-pass issuance with the view of giving comfortable travel. The government's action has come after the court highlighted the grounds of issuing fake e-passes in the state.