Andhra Pradesh police to ease e-pass hassles

Vijayawada: About 1,500 vehicles from Andhra Pradesh were sent back from Kodad check post on Sunday as they did not have an e-pass which is mandatory to enter Telangana.

The Telangana State has been strictly implementing this rule even during the period when lockdown has been relaxed. But without realising this, people from Andhra are trying to enter Telangana between 6 am and 6 pm without obtaining an advance e-pass. This is happening despite repeated announcements made by the Andhra Pradesh police that an e-pass is a must to enter Telangana state.

The Telangana police urged the Andhra police to stop the vehicles at the AP check post near Jaggaiahpet if they do not possess e-pass so that the commuters will not have to face problems after driving all the way to Kodad.

The Telangana police said that most of those who were stopped at Kodad had feigned ignorance that they need an e-pass. Some passengers, who were sent back by Telangana police, expressed similar views. DGP of Andhra Pradesh Gautam Sawang has recently announced the procedure to be followed to take the e-pass and appealed to the passengers to take e-pass to enter other States. The Krishna district police are contemplating setting up a special check post at the inter-State border to verify the vehicles before they cross the AP border. When contacted on the plight of passengers, Krishna district police M V Ravindranath Babu said that the suggestion to check vehicles at Jaggaiahpet would be considered. If Krishna district police allow the vehicles which have e-pass, there will be no traffic jams at the check posts in Nalgonda, he said.