As coronavirus cases have been rising in India and Maharashtra has witnessed the highest confirmed cases, state Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the government would be forced to take the “harsh decision” to stop bus and train services in Mumbai if people don’t avoid unnecessary travel.
While talking to reporters, Thackeray also appealed people to avoid unnecessary travel and gathering.
“As of now there are 40 persons in Maharashtra who have tested positive for coronavirus and one such patient has died. The condition of 39 patients is stable while one is critical. The patients include 26 men and 14 women,’ Thackeray said.
On reports of seven days holidays for government offices, he said the administration was working on allowing the functioning of government offices with 50% strength.
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On the other hand, Indian Railways, the biggest transport utility of the country, has been taking a series of proactive measures to stop the spread of coronavirus in the country.
As a precautionary measure, railway zones like WR and CR have also increased the prices of their platform tickets to discourage large crowds at stations.
Rate of platform tickets will be increased from Rs 10 to Rs 50 from tomorrow to April 30 on all 12 A1 & A class stations of Firozpur Division including Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, Amritsar, Ludhiana & Jammu Tawi to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Northern Railways has said.
Besides, it also announced: “Train services to and from Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Pathankot (from March 18 to March 30), New Delhi-Firozpur Cantt (from March 20 to March 29), Jabalpur-Atari (from March 21 to April 1) will remain suspended as occupancy in these trains has come down.”
Railways has also cancelled 85 trains as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus and due to low occupancy, officials said on Tuesday.