Mumbai: Universal passes for local train travel at railway stations from today

Universal passes embedded with a Quick Response (QR) code will be made available to the commuters through both offline and online

Ahead of starting local train services for those fully vaccinated in Mumbai and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) from August 15, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday declared to start issuing mandatory universal passes from Wednesday (August 11). The universal passes will make the commuters eligible to obtain monthly railway passes for travel as the state government has declared that daily tickets will not be issued.

A BMC health worker collects swab samples for Covid-19 test of passengers arriving from outstation trains at Dadar Station. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

Universal passes embedded with a Quick Response (QR) code will be made available to the commuters through both offline and online. While the offline facility is starting from Wednesday, the online facility is expected to be launched in the next 24 to 48 hours after completing all the necessary testing. In the offline system, universal passes are going to be available at special help desks set up at railway stations by local civic bodies. Citizens can approach the nearest railway stations and get the universal passes after proper verification of their vaccination certificates.

In Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is setting up 358 help desks at 53 railway stations that come in its jurisdiction for the verification process, the officials said.

Across the MMR, help desks will be opened at 109 railway stations. Citizens who are fully vaccinated for Covid-19 and have completed 14 days since their second Covid-19 vaccine shot are eligible to travel in local trains and will be issued universal passes.

“All the fully vaccinated persons wishing to avail the monthly season pass will first approach these help desks and show their fully vaccinated certificate along with a government issued photo ID (preferably Aadhar Card). They should carry a photocopy of the photo ID also for stamping purposes. After verifying the authenticity of the vaccination certificate by scanning the QR code followed by due diligence like matching of names on documents, dates of both doses, passage of minimum 14 days since second dose of vaccination etc., the person at the help desk shall put special stamp on certificate of vaccination submitted as well as on the photocopy of the I-Card. After this, the commuter can go to the railway ticket counter to obtain a monthly pass,” stated the standard operating procedure issued by the state revenue department on Tuesday.

The commuters have been asked to carry all the three documents, while traveling i.e. universal pass, railway pass and photo identity card.

The help desks will operate in two shifts — first between 7am to 3pm and second between 3pm and 11pm.

The state government has asked the railways to ensure that all the ticket counters are opened and fully functional. It has also asked the BMC or other local bodies of MMR to set up enough number of help desks in view of the number of commuters that may require this service so that passes can be provided within reasonable time.

“Once the online system for issuing the universal passes is operational, the eligible citizens will not be required to go to help desks at railways stations. They can obtain the universal passes through a portal developed by the state government and then can approach the railway counter directly to get a monthly pass,” said a senior official from the relief and rehabilitation department.

The motive behind authenticating fully vaccinated persons through QR codes or verifying documents is to ensure that only fully vaccinated people would travel by local trains besides those who fall under essential services category.

“We have got the API (Application Programming Interface) from the central government for the Cowin portal. We have also started the testing process, but it has to go through several rounds of security tests. We are trying to complete the procedure and make the portal ready in the next 24 to 48 hours,” said Aseem Gupta, principal secretary, relief and rehabilitation department.

API testing is a type of software testing that aims to determine whether the APIs that are developed meet expectations when it comes to functionality, performance, reliability and security for an application.

The portal developed by the state government will be linked with the Cowin portal for verification. Once the registration is done on the state government’s portal, the information will be verified using the API linked with Cowin and will be certified back to the state portal. The user will then get a link to take a selfie and upload back to the portal for the generation of the universal pass, the officials said.

Commuters, who will obtain universal passes through the online system, will have to carry only two documents: universal pass and monthly railway pass.

However, government employees, semi government employees, and essential service workers can continue to travel by local train irrespective of their vaccination status

According to data from BMC, a total of 1,914,771 beneficiaries have been fully vaccinated in Mumbai till date. Of these, 297,377 are healthcare and frontline workers; 646,939 are citizens above 60 years of age; 811,709 are citizens between the age group of 45 years and 59 years; 140,944 are citizens between the age group of 18 years and 44 years; 721 are lactating mothers; 8 are pregnant women; 16,889 are students or professionals looking to travel abroad, or those who were participating in Tokyo Olympics; 136 are physically or mentally differently abled beneficiaries; 26 are persons without identity proofs (prisoners/transgender persons); and 22 are bed ridden beneficiaries.

While citizens who have not received both doses of their vaccine, or even a single dose of their vaccine will not be allowed to enter the railway premises at all, government and semi-government employees, and essential services workers can continue to travel by train, regardless of their vaccination status.

In its statement on Tuesday, BMC said, “Citizens are requested not to crowd railway stations, as the helpdesks will be operational all seven days in the week. Strict legal action under the epidemic act will be taken against citizens, if fake vaccination certificates are found.”

The statement was issued after a meeting between BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, railway authorities, and police authorities on Tuesday afternoon. Civic officers of the public health department, deputy municipal commissioners, and assistant municipal commissioners of all 24 administrative wards in the city were also present at the meeting.

Nodal officers have been appointed at the railway station level for coordination between the railway authorities, civic authorities, and the police, a senior civic officer said.

To avoid crowding at railway stations, the state government has directed the police to allow entry on railway stations only to those commuters having universal passes or vaccination certificates along with identity cards between August 15 and 31. After which police may decide on random checks or other means to ensure that only authorised travellers are moving in the railway station, states the order.

The railways have decided to open 617 railway ticket window counters for passengers that will issue monthly passes on the central and western railway. Of them, 341 windows will be functional on central railway stations and the rest 276 ticket windows on western railway stations, a railway official said.

Both the zonal railways have provided the number of entry and exit points of every suburban railway station to the state police force and all entry and exit points will be manned by security personnel 24/7. Special squad teams will be formed by the railway authorities to check tickets and vaccination certificates inside local trains, he said.

The state government as well as the zonal railways are also considering to issue quarterly and yearly railway passes to the commuters from September.

The railways have decided not to increase the number of train services immediately. “We will increase the number of train services after there is a rise in the number of passengers. We will then operate local trains in 100 percent capacity.” said a CR official.