Passengers alight at smaller stations to avoid quarantine

Passengers alight at smaller stations to avoid quarantine

IRRESPONSIBLE Officials Claim These Travellers Contributed Significantly To Surge In Cases

Facilities Ready But No Manpower

Christin.MathewPhilip@timesgroup.com

23.07.2020

Bengaluru: Several passengers coming to Bengaluru in interstate trains from Mumbai and Danapur (Bihar) are said to be evading Covid-19 screening and home quarantine stamping over the past few weeks. In view of this, the railway board has decided to restrict stoppages of these trains from Friday. Officials claim these passengers have contributed significantly to the recent surge in positive cases.

Many passengers from these states alight at smaller stations like Krishnarajapuram, Bengaluru East, Bengaluru Cantonment and Yelahanka. BBMP and health and family welfare department officials screen passengers only at KSR Bengaluru City railway station.

“We used to request passengers to alight only at city station but some passengers wouldn’t agree. Passengers of 01301 Udyan Express (CSMT Mumbai-KSR Bengaluru City) would de-board at Yelahanka and proceed to their homes,” said sources.

Closer home

SWR shares details of passengers travelling on these trains on a daily basis. “It is difficult to trace such passengers. Some of them would claim they had de-boarded in Andhra Pradesh. Many were not ready to travel all the way to the city station as they prefer to get down at the nearest station citing poor transport options. This has prompted the government to approach the railway board to eliminate stoppages at small stations,” said a SWR official.

The first train from Mumbai reached Bengaluru on June 2. Initially, the state government insisted on institutional and home quarantine of seven days each, and also organized swab collection from those coming from Maharashtra since Mumbai was a hotspot. Later, the sevenday institutional quarantine and swab collection were stopped. Now, only 14-day home quarantine is required for interstate passengers and only ‘home stamping’ is being done at the city station.

Both 01301 Udyan Express (CSMT Mumbai-KSR Bengaluru City) and 02296 Sanghamitra (Danapur-KSR Bengaluru City) will now stop only at city station. “There were fewer checks at smaller stations which is also one of the reasons for the rise in Covid-19 cases,” said a government official.

Asked why the problem was with only these two trains, SWR officials said: “Other inter-state trains do not stop anywhere in BBMP limits apart from the city station. For instance, New Delhi-Bengaluru Rajdhani stops only at city station in BBMP limits, while Howrah-Yeshwantpur and New Delhi-Yeshwantpur Sampark Kranti Express halt only at Yeshwantpur in the city limits. We’re conducting thermal scanning for passengers at stations for outbound-trains. The health department protocol applies only to inter-state incoming trains, so intra-state ones will not have any problem,” they added.

LOST IN TRANSLOCATION: A file pic of people who arrived on Udyan Express from Mumbai making their way out of KSR City Railway Station, Bengaluru

157 goods trains ferry essentials

SWR has operated 157 parcel trains carrying 9,032 tonnes of essential items including dairy products, and perishables between April 1 and July 19. Of these, 78 trains were operated from Bengaluru. SWR also operated parcel trips between Belagavi, Hubballi, Davanagere and Bengaluru, carrying medicines, essentials, spices etc. The Bengaluru division on Wednesday transported 172 tractors from Doddaballapur station to Rajasthan.

Caution for those going to Howrah

With the West Bengal government announcing a complete lockdown in that state on July 23, 25 and 29, South Western Railways has urged passengers travelling from Bengaluru to Howrah to make appropriate arrangements. “West Bengal government has announced a complete lockdown in that state including suspension of public and private transport services and passengers arriving in West Bengal on these dates are advised to make appropriate arrangements,” an official said.

Asked why the problem was with only two trains, Udyan Express and Sanghamitra, SWR officials said: “Other interstate trains do not stop anywhere in BBMP limits apart from the city station. We’re conducting thermal scanning for passengers at stations for outbound-trains.”