Soon, You Cannot Travel In India Without Aarogya Setu app & E-Pass: What’s This All About?

Aarogya Setu is a must today in every smartphone across the country. Meanwhile Govt has ordered that every Central Govt employees will have to mandatorily install Aarogya Setu app.

Within 13 days, this app had crossed 5 crore downloads, making it the fastest growing app in the world. Using this app, Govt can initiate contact tracking like Singapore and South Korea did, and also enables the user to stay alert and aware. 

This app will showcase if you have crossed the path of any coronavirus positive person or not, and give updates, news about this deadly epidemic.

Aarogya Setu to Facilitate Interstate Travel

Once the services are resumed, the the Government of India is working on whether the app can be used to facilitate interstate travel.

The Indian Railways has just made the use of Aarogya Setu app mandatory to check the health and wellness of patients and allow only healthy passengers to board trains.

So only those passengers will be allowed to travel from these trains, who will have the government app installed in their phones.

Government sources tell that  for interstate travel and movement, the Aarogya Setu app could be used for self-certification, only after which will the passengers receive the e-pass.

What about the Centralized e-Pass?

It is believed that once the lockdown is over in individual states, there may be a centralized e-pass which will be issued after self-validation using the Aarogya Setu app. 

It is still not confirmed if this e-pass will include all types of personal travel or will focus instead on modes of transport such as trains and interstate buses, or how the movement of goods will be affected by this.

According to Government sources, strict legal provisions could also be in place, which means that false declarations of health conditions entered on the app, to secure a safe result for not bearing travel restrictions, on the Aarogya Setu app could land the individual in jail.

The Government will discuss the plans with all stakeholders soon. Indian Railways is going to start few passenger train services. It is mandatory for passengers to download Aarogya Setu app in their mobile phones, before commencing their journey.

The tickets can only be booked through the IRCTC website online and not by window bookings, to maintain social distancing.

Also, in cities like Noida, it is a crime to live or travel from one place to other without Aarogya Setu apps installed in your phone. It is expected that airlines will also make it mandatory for passengers to self-certify via the Aarogya Setu app before they board a flight.