As the coronavirus cases are rising day by day, the Indian government has announced the fourth iteration of the nationwide lockdown. Unlike the last three lockdowns, this time around the government has eased the restrictions allowing people to move interstate. In order to travel interstate during lockdown 4.0, the people will need an e-pass.
As the Lockdown 4.0 is in effect till May 31, the people who are planning to travel to a different state ahead of that will need an e-pass. The government has developed a website for this where users can easily get an e-pass by filling in the required details.
Earlier, different state governments had developed different portals to register for an e-pass. This also brought opportunities for a lot of fake websites. Now, the central government has made it easier with the help of a single-point website that can further direct users to the state-wise e-pass websites.
How to get e-pass to move interstate during Lockdown:
- Head over to the e-pass website – http://serviceonline.gov.in/epass/
- Here, you will be able to find a drop-down menu which lists only 17 states, excluding some of the major states such as Delhi NCR, Chennai, Punjab and more. If your state is available, click on it.
- Now, you will see the list of ePass Services available for your state. Select a suitable service and it will take you to the official website to get the e-permit.
- Fill in the required details and follow the on-screen instructions. The website might even ask for an OTP that will be sent on your phone.
Once done, you will receive the e-pass via SMS as well as e-mail if your request is accepted. At the time of writing, the website claims that it has received over 36 lakh applications. While the government has already issued over 13 lakh e-passes, over 10 lakh applications are still under process and 12,39,135 e-passes have been rejected.