Less than 48 hours after launching the ‘Gurugram movement passes’ scheme to allow hassle-free movement to those in an emergency or involved in delivery of essential services, the district administration has received over 11,000 applications.
A majority of the applications, however, sought passes on flimsy grounds such as “need to take wife to her parents’ home as part of a ritual after wedding” or “need to bring back son from his grandmother’s place in Punjab” or “need to take the dog to the veterinarian as he is not eating his meals”.
Essential services
Chief Executive Officer (Zila Parishad) Kulbir Dhaka, one of the two approvers, told The Hindu that the flood of ‘flimsy’ requests have delayed the clearance process for genuine applications.
“We have 11,157 applications so far. Even if I take one minute to clear an application, it will take me a week to dispose off them all,” said Mr. Dhaka, adding that only 2,800 applications have been processed so far out of which 1,586 — mostly associated with essential services — were allowed.
Mr. Dhaka has appealed to residents to seek a pass only in unavoidable circumstances.
“A pass must be sought in case of a prior appointment with the doctor, but in case of medical exigency, such as heart attack, it can be avoided,” he added.
The suppliers of essential services also need passes. Individuals are being one-day passes while organisations are being given passes that are valid for seven days, Mr. Dhaka said.
Besides two computer operators, the representatives of the District Food and Supply Controller office and Industry are also part of the team to grant the passes. “The DFSC and Industry representatives help us verify the claims of essential services suppliers,” said Mr. Dhaka.
