New Delhi: As the countrywide lockdown is extended by two weeks, the Una district police of Himachal Pradesh has floated an app for hassle-free movement of those carrying essential commodities like vegetables and milk, besides other commuters, from the Punjab side.
The Wire had reported on April 19 that cops at the Terrace-Sansarpur check post of Kangra district adjoining Hoshiarpur in Punjab had denied entry to Gujjar Muslim milkmen from the Punjab side.
It was after the story that Una district police chief superintendent of police (SP) Karthikeyan took a call and offered an alternative route via the Bhatoli check post.
The young SP also crosschecked with dairy owners in Daulatpur located in Una, where the milkmen were headed, to understand the basic problem as highlighted in The Wire‘s story.
Also Read: Hoshiarpur’s Muslim Gujjars Denied Entry Into Himachal Pradesh to Supply Milk
The said app, named ‘C-Entry’, will be implemented in the Una district only and mentions 26 checkpoints as an option for the commuters to travel through. It registers the commuter’s vehicle number, mobile number and other details that have to be entered by the cops deputed at these checkpoints.
“This is an app to enter data (about vehicles and persons entering Una district). The data entered is saved in the backend, which can be accessed directly on the desktop, analysed and then filtered to get the requisite info,” Karthikeyan said.
He informed that there were 30-40 persons entering data at the checkpoints, “saving many man hours, dual entry, time and making the record-making more efficient”.
Farmaan Ali, Yaqoob and Saadiq were among the Gujjar Muslims who now prefer to travel through the Bhatoli checkpoint of Una to reach Daulatpur and other places in Himachal to supply their milk. “I never used the Terrace chowki again after I was denied entry. We now go through the Marhwari-Bhatoli chowki,” Farmaan told The Wire.
Kangra SP Vimukt Ranjan, when contacted, said he was apprised of the problem at the Terrace chowki as reported in the media and instructed the police that such incident should not reoccur.
Ranjan categorically said that ordinary milkmen coming in on bikes from the Punjab side “do not need any pass”. He also stated that anybody facing problems at any checkpoints should contact his office.