Dharamshala: Kangra District Administration has come forward to help all those people who want to move out from the district to other states amid countrywide lockdown due to Covid-19 by launching e-services.
One service, has been extended in aim to help people coming to Kangra district from outside the State. It has further been extended for their surveillance as well. In another service, people are being issued Covid-19 passes for moving within district and other districts of Himachal Pradesh. These workflow based applications are integrated with email and SMS and Aarogya Setu database. And in third category , the applications for Moving out of State, go automatically to the Account of District Magistrate (DM) while applications within State and within District are going to concerned Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) account. These services developed with the help of NIC using framework and linked through Aarogya Setu App can be accessed by applying online through https://hpkangra.nic.in/curfewpasskangra.
“While it is important to issue passes to facilitate genuine movement of persons, the most critical thing is ensuring effective surveillance on home quarantined persons,” says Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Prajapati. The integrated HP ENTRY-cum-Surveillance Software enables this. And it is one of its kind software application deployed in the country. It helps SDMs to keep surveillance on all incoming persons and prevent risk of spread of Covid-19 infection to others.
Giving details of these services Deputy Commissioner said, “Anyone who is travelling has to upload scanned documents of one’s identity and purpose for which the request has been made. There is also a provision of uploading two more additional documents, categories and sub categories under which he can apply are predefined. Details of co-travellers and their identity is also printed on e-Pass for verification at the border to keep a check on persons travelling back in the vehicle who has gone to drop a patient at PGI chandigarh or AIMS, Delhi. It has been linked with the Aarogya Setu and while approving, the concerned officer is getting Green (Issue) or Red Alert (Reject) from Arogya Setu of any Traveller or Co-Traveller. On this basis, the concerned officer approves or rejects the e-Pass applications.”
Prajapati further added that this software has provision to fetch documents through DigiLocker. The applicant can track the status of his application. Once a pass is issued, it is immediately delivered on Aarogya Setu App. One gets SMS and e-mail at the time of submitting his application and approval and rejection if any with reasons. The Pass generated through this application bears QR Code printed on it and details and genuineness of it can be verified online from this QR code. The Approval or Rejection Remarks are included in SMS as well as on e-Pass. Control Room numbers are given on the acknowledgement slip for further follow-up and help.
Prajapati said, “one additional service has been added for issuance of HP-Entry and Surveillance for those who come from other States in their own or hired vehicles. This is also work flow based application and all applications are going to respective SDMs depending upon the Sub-Division selected by the applicants in their address while applying. A check is, also, being maintained on the number of applications for a particular day keeping precautionary measures in view. If one does not get a date of one’s choice, one can also apply for other date.”
This system, also, considers the reason for travel like Job Loss, Joining duty, Medical Grounds etc. This service in addition to issuance of HP Entry Pass has been designed for surveillance of individuals at Block, Panchayat and village level. This application is also being used for assignment of surveillance officer, surveillance monitoring, quarantine discharge approval, hospitalization or institutional quarantine follow-up and finally, issuance of Discharge Certificate.
Deputy Commissioner added, “if a person is found Corona positive having travel history, then complete record of his travel details along with travel history of that particular vehicle in which he has travelled, on the basis of its registration number and how many trips have been undertaken by it in the State and further through Vahan Vehicle Database, can be tracked. This helps in locating the address of the vehicle owner and other contact details and the concerned state where the vehicle is actually registered. These details are then shared with that particular State to identify people who have come in contact with such persons. Tracking of travellers and contact tracing of any suspect has become very effective with these software as relevant data can be retrieved within minutes.”
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
