Mumbai: With restrictions in place, rlys sees decline in local passenger numbers

As the new restrictions of 50 per cent attendance at office have come into force local train passenger numbers on both Central and Western Railway have started declining since the beginning of this weekAfter over 15000 fresh COVID19 cases were reported in Maharashtra the Uddhav Thackerayled government on Monday reimposed fresh guidelines extending curbs imposed in containment zones till March 31As per the notification all offices private and government have been told to function at 50 per cent capacity and the government has appealed to them to allow employees to work from home as far as possible It was also warned that any office found violating these restrictions will be closed for a period till the pandemic stays notified as a disaster by the CentreImmediate impactThis seems to have had an immediate impact on the passengers of local trains As per the latest statistics while the number of daily average passengers in local trains on Western Railway saw a decline from 1710815 on March 15 to 1681884 on March 16 and to about 1672650 on March 17 the number of passengers on Central Railway local trains declined from an average of 21 lakh per day in February to 20 lakh per day starting March 16 after the Maharashtra government guidelinesAsked what safety precautions and measures had been taken by railways post the new guidelines Central Railway chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said sanitisation of rolling stock and station areas had been intensified in addition to continuous announcements of dos and donts ldquoCleanup marshals with the help of municipal staff have been acting against those who donrsquot wear masks An intensive ticket checking drive against irregular ticketless travellers was carried out and vendors have been permitted to sell masks in local trainsrdquo he addedWestern Railwayrsquos chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said that they had been taking due care from their side ldquoWe are taking all the necessary steps in order to counter the threat of the pandemic and a special team for sanitisation of trains had been formed In addition to this we have opened over 300 counters and lifts and escalators so that crowds do not gather at one place to maintain social distancing etcrdquo he added20 lakhAvg no of passengers every day on CR from March 161672650Approx no of passengers on WR on March 17Plastic do mask loOn the occasion of Global Recycling Day on Thursday March 18 CR launched the Plastic Lao Mask Pao campaign to create awareness on the collection and recycling of plastic The campaign is being implemented in collaboration with the UNDP India the BMC Hindustan Unilever and Stree Mukti Sanghatana CR chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said ldquoTo address the growing plastic pollution crisis CR has installed plastic waste collection kiosks at the CSMT and Dadar railway stations Passengers can deposit all kinds of plastic waste like bottles polythene bags etc in exchange for a maskrdquo