Ready to start operations: Delhi Metro to HC - The Times Of India

Ready to start operations: Delhi Metro to HC - The Times Of India

Abhinav.Garg@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:20.05.2020

Delhi Metro has told Delhi high court that it was ready to start operations.

In its affidavit, DMRC said it has been currently operating two trips daily on each line to keep the system healthy.

Responding to a court notice, Delhi Metro through its counsel Pushkar Sood submitted that it has prepared the standard operating procedure laid down by the Centre to maintain social distancing, sanitation, thermal screening, use of masks, among other things.

To maintain social distancing, DMRC said it was likely to allow passengers to sit on alternate seats only and increase the train stoppage window at each station to give more time to commuters to board or deboard. The court is expected to consider DMRC’s stand this week when it takes up a plea seeking resumption of public transport services in Delhi.

Earlier, a bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal had said the Centre’s May 1 notification allowing private offices to run with 33% strength discriminated against those without personal vehicle. The notification now stands withdrawn since the Centre came up with the new regulations.

In one of the video conferencing hearings earlier, Delhi government and Delhi Transport Corporation had said they could resume operations with precautions to prevent the further spread of Covid-19, while the Centre said restrictions on public transport had to be in place only in the “red zones'” and “that some responsibility would have to be taken by the civil society”.

The petition contended that while the Centre and Delhi government allowed government and private establishments to function and permitted use of cars and two-wheelers, they forgot that a large number of people in the city relied on public transport to commute and sought resumption of transport services “in strict compliance with the social distancing and disinfection or sanitation norms”. This would ensure that the section of the population who does not have private vehicles was not adversely affected, the plea