GUWAHATI: The Assam government will issue e-passes to certain categories of stranded people for one-way inter-district movement between April 25 and 27, in strict compliance with the guidelines issued by the Union home ministry.
Moreover, patients who are in need of inter-district travel for medical purposes would be given e-passes for the entire lockdown period, subject to prior verification and approval of the respective deputy commissioners.
Assam health and family welfare minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that the decision to allow inter-district travel for three days between April 25 and 27 was a humanitarian consideration given that there were certain categories of people who are stranded in other districts owing to the lockdown.
The categories of people are home-bound people with personal vehicles and stranded in another district, migrant workers who need to be facilitated by employers to return home/place of work, while the third category might include families/students stranded in another district.
“The travel will have to be either home or office bound with prior approval of the deputy commissioner. For migrant workers, the employers will have to adhere to all norms of ferrying them. For those with personal vehicles stranded in other districts, prior permission will have to be obtained from the deputy commissioner who will verify among others the place of vehicle registration,” the minister said.
“For those without vehicles, Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) will run buses on designated routes. Those wishing to avail of the service may contact the 104 helpline. Applications will be entertained on a case to case basis only,” Sarma added.
