Allow vaccinated people in Mumbai locals; livelihood depended on trains, say passenger assn

Subhash Gupta, ex-member of National Railway Users Consultative Council and president of Rail Yatri Parishad gives an insight in to the problems faced by the general public without access to local trains

The demand for resuming local train services in the city for the general public has been increasing everyday. Commuter associations have stated that with relaxations in the citizens should be allowed to travel by local trains for work. Subhash Gupta, ex-member of National Railway Users Consultative Council and president of Rail Yatri Parishad gives an insight in to the problems faced by the general public without access to local trains.

There is no logic in not resuming local trains for the general public due to fear of a third wave, said the Rail Yatri Parishad head. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

*The state government has refused to resume local train travel for general public for the fear of Covid transmission. What is your reaction?

There is no logic in not resuming local trains for the general public due to fear of a third wave. Earlier local train services were resumed in stipulated time and they should be resumed for passengers now as well. The general public cannot commute in Mumbai in the absence of local trains, which is the only affordable mode of transport (in terms of both cost and time). People residing in suburbs such as Kalyan and far-off areas like Karjat are dependent on trains to reach their workplaces.

*As coronavirus cases are increasing in Kerala, the state government is being cautious on local train travel. An overcrowded train could become super-spreader.

Kerala and Maharashtra are different. The increase in cases in Kerala is not due to public transport. Public transport is operational in cities across the world. Not permitting passengers to travel will not help in reducing the number of cases. We are asking the state government to permit only working professionals to travel by trains and not leisure travel. The people who are fully vaccinated should be allowed to commute.

*Doctors have stated that despite being fully vaccinated there are chances of contracting the infection. If not cautious then one could spread the virus to other people.

Maharashtra has witnessed an increase in cases in rural areas. There is no local train network in the rural areas and people largely commute by their personal vehicles, so why have cases increased in rural areas? We suggested allowing fully vaccinated people as the chances of getting infected is less. Across the country all state governments are allowing vaccinated people to commute, then why not Mumbai. There is no alternative to local trains and it truly is the lifeline of the city. People have their livelihood depended on trains and keeping it suspended is only going to increase financial burden on citizens.