Rishika Iyer (Intern Journalist): For the first time in 46 years, the lifeline of Mumbai – the local trains were put to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The trains were shut for over two months as a measure to avoid the spread of Covid-19. Before the lockdown, over 8 million people traveled through the local trains across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region every single day.
The government resumed a few trains in the suburbs of Mumbai for core essential workers. No food stalls were allowed outside the station and Railway Protection Force was deployed to ensure that social distancing norms were followed by the citizens.
There are around 125,000 essential workers as identified by the government currently. This includes hospital staff, police, bank employees, and media persons. This decision might be taken as it becomes very difficult for essential workers living in far off places to travel for work on a daily basis.
A thermal check of all the travelers will be done at every station in order to maintain safety by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) along with mandatory masks and physical distancing.
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