People who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus (Covid-19) may soon be able to travel freely on Maharashtra’s local trains. Aslam Shaik, a state cabinet minister, said on Wednesday that a decision could be made in two or three days.
“As a minister, I am also of the view that person whose two doses are completed should be allowed to travel in Mumbai local, we have also informed Chief Minister about this. After studying the report by the task force, a decision on Mumbai local will be taken in next two to three days,” Shaikh, who is the guardian minister of Mumbai, said while speaking to mediapersons.
He added that a detailed discussion about allowing fully vaccinated people to travel in suburban trains and BrihanMumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) buses took place recently in one of the cabinet meetings.
As the number of cases of Covid-19 decreased in Maharashtra, the state government began to relax the restrictions. However, due to the rapid spread of the second wave of Covid-19 and the delta plus variant, some of the curbs were reinstated. After cases of delta plus variants were discovered last month, the state imposed stricter norms by reducing the five-level relaxation plan to three.
Local trains, which are considered Mumbai’s lifeline, were allowed to run but never fully opened to the public. They are currently only used by essential service personnel.
The demand for the resumption of general public suburban train service has been growing. Many citizen groups and political leaders have urged Uddhav Thackeray, the chief minister, to allow the general public to ride these trains.
The Maharashtra government introduced a QR code-based universal travel pass to prevent people from boarding trains with fake ID cards.
The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation issued a new set of instructions in June allowing local trains to resume service, but only for a specific group of people (BMC). Local trains will be available for “medical, few essentials,” according to the notification, and civic administrations will be able to put them in place.
