The Madras High Court, expressing serious concern over the roads at Kodaikanal and the Nilgiris being flooded with motor vehicles during the tourist season thereby causing great harm to the environment and hardship to local residents, on March 13, fixed a cap on the number of vehicles entering the two hill stations between April and June. To implement this restriction, limited number of e-passes are being issued to visitors everyday, starting April 1, 2025.
Accordingly, in the Nilgiris, only 6,000 visitor vehicles a day will be issued e-passes during weekdays and 8,000 vehicles will be allowed during weekends. In Kodaikanal, only 4,000 vehicles a day will be permitted during weekdays and 6,000 during weekends.
The restriction does not apply to tourists who visit the hill stations using public transport such as government buses and trains and also to the vehicles of local residents and those which transport essential commodities.
The court also ordered that the tourists visiting the hill stations in e-vehicles to be given preference in issuance of e-pass.
How to apply e-pass?
Visit the official website at https://epass.tnega.org to apply e-pass on the same day or in advance.
To log in, enter your e-mail address if you are a foreign visitor and use your mobile number if you are an Indian visitor. A one-time password (OTP) will be generated to authenticate.
You need to choose the destination — Nilgiris or Kodaikanal. Options for ‘Localite passes’ and ‘Previous passes and pending applications’ are also displayed.
After choosing the destination, fill in details such as name, permanent address, vehicle registration number, purpose of visit, number of passengers, vehicle type, fuel type, date of entry/exit, place of stay, proof of accommodation booking.
Then, click ‘submit’ to obtain an automatically-generated e-pass, issued on first-come-first-served basis until the day’s slots are filled.
Remove
SEE ALL