1.25 lakh enter Himachal on e-passes since May 1

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 18

Despite a curfew in place due to a surge in coronavirus cases in the state, 1.25 lakh persons have entered Himachal on 74,171 e-Covid passes since May 1. The maximum number of people has come to the industrial belt in the border areas of Baddi, Nalagarh, Poanta Sahib and Una.

As per the data procured by the Information Technology Department, the highest number of 18,410 passes was issued in Solan district followed by 15,406 in Una and 13,285 in Kangra district. The maximum number of 14,387 persons entered Baddi followed by Haroli 5,230, Nalagarh 4,676, Sri Naina Deviji 4,498, Una 4204, Poanta Sahib 3,863 and Shimla 3,036.

As many as 11,846 persons have applied for e-pass to enter the state in the next eight days. The maximum applications are for Kangra followed by Solan and Una districts.

“Our teams are working round the clock and e-passes are issued on hourly basis,” said Director, Information Technology (IT), Ashutosh Garg. Applicants should upload important documents, besides Covid report, if positive in the past six months, and vaccination report to avoid inconvenience.

There is a dip in social events like marriages due to limit of 20 persons and the IT Department has received 2,156 requests for the permission of events from May 18 to May 31 of which 1,169 have been approved, 346 are rejected while 641 are pending. With 542 requests for permission to hold events, Kangra tops the chart followed by 295 in Mandi and 208 in Solan.