Service providers raise e-pass issue

Days after the Delhi government imposed a weeklong lockdown to arrest the spread of Covid-19, people involved in essential services said they were finding it difficult to get passes, and that their requests were either getting rejected or lying pending for days.

Rajat Abbey, whose family owns a chemicals company, said he was trying to secure a pass for the past two days to deliver essential products needed in the pharmaceutical industry. “I have uploaded all these documents on the portal along with my Aadhaar card, but the requests keep getting rejected,” said Abbey.

Ranjeet Raghav, operations head at a food manufacturing company, said his requests for passes were rejected seven times. “I applied on the Delhi government and Delhi Police portal but to no avail. I work in a grain manufacturing company, and our products cannot be stored for long,” said Raghav.

Restaurant owners also made similar complaints. Manpreet Singh, treasurer of National Restaurants Association of India, who also owns Zen restaurant in Connaught Place, said he failed to secure passes for himself and other staff members. “I applied for the pass at least five times in my name and two to three times in the name of my staff but all requests were rejected within six to eight hours without any reason,” said Singh.

Saurabh Suman, manager of Pebble Street in New Friends Colony (NFC), said they applied for passes for 10 people, of which the request for six staff members got sanctioned.

A Delhi government spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.