In Telangana, you can now shop only within 3 km

Hyderabad: In response to an ever increasing number of violations of lockdown rules, the Telangana state police on Monday have decided to make amendments in issuance of passes to people who are working in essential services category. The state police is now going to insist that public carry residential proof certificates while leaving their homes so that personnel at checkpoints can verify if 3-km restriction is being violated.

However, those who do not have residence proof may face some issues and are advised to carry alternate documents related to their stay, or phone number of their owners, providing an option for police for cross verification.

The old passes issued will be nullified soon after the police issues the new passes. Even passes provided to government empl-oyees are not exempt for the new ruling.

Come April 21, Telangana police will review all 15,000 passes issued across the state to identify those who misused them, and will cancel them.

New passes will have details regarding route, timings, home and workplace details, which will be verified at checkposts, and violator’s pass would be cancelled.

DGP M. Mahendar Reddy said on Monday that there has been an increase in violation of lockdown by public, who are taking advantage of exemptions provided to essential services category.

“The police will review each pass and reissue new ones, but until then old pass will be valid. New passes will have details like location of house of pass-holder, workplace address, travelling route, timings of work. If a pass-holder deviates or violates route or timing, the pass will be cancelled,” DGP Mr Reddy said.

Mr Reddy said that about 20 percent of staff in government departments are allowed to work on each day. However, there is no provision to check if person who is leaving the house on such pretext is attending to duties or exploiting the provision. To check this, concerned department heads are being notified to issue a colour-coded pass to employees.

“The employees who are on duty on a particular day will all hold a pass of one colour. If same employee has to attend duties on multiple days, concerned HODs should issue multiple passes, which will have details of house, office location and route chosen to travel,” the DGP said.

In order to ensure that people who are leaving residences to purchase essential commodities and those visiting hospitals don’t misuse provisions, state police will insisted they carry a residence proof as policemen at checkpoints will verify distance travelled and take necessary action against violators.

“The public has to carry proof of residence, which will be checked for violation. Several people were found violating 3-kms travel rule,” Mr Reddy said.
Responding to a query, the DGP said, “if a person has no proof of residence, some sort of alternative document or at least phone number of owner should be carried. In such cases, the police can call and verify genuineness.”

Meanwhile, residential associations and communities have to ensure that only a single entry and exit road in their areas are open and all other routes are closed.
The police has noticed that several people were seen taking advantage of exemption to visit hospitals. To address the issue, the DGP asked public to visit nearest hospital. In instances of visiting hospitals at longer distances (over 3 to 5 km), patients have to carry their medical records or referral documents provided by hospitals and doctors.