BackMaharashtra: Railway stops sale of platform tickets at Mumbai CSMT, five other stations
The directions will be in place with immediate effect from FridayThe authority had earlier hiked the price of platform tickets at some key stations
PremiumWith the Covid-19 cases surging across Maharashtra, the railways has decided to stop the sale of platform tickets at six station in the latest effort to curb the spread of the virus.
The platforms where the rates would be hiked are -- Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Kalyan, Thane, Dadar, Panvel, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.
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The directions will be in place with immediate effect from Friday, the Central Railway stated.
"The decision has been taken to avoid unnecessary crowding and ensuring social distancing at stations during the current summer rush," Central Railway chief spokesperson Shivaji Sutar was quoted as saying by PTI.
The authority had earlier hiked the price of platform tickets at some key stations under Mumbai, Nagpur and Bhusawal divisions to avoid overcrowding.
In view of the spiking infections, the Mumbai civic authorities have also imposed some curbs in the city closing all markets and shops till 30 April.
On halting train services
The authorities have hinted the local train services might be discontinued for the general public.
"The state government decided to resume the local train services as people were losing out on their jobs. Now that the services have resumed, it is again starting to get crowded. Because of this, Covid cases have started increasing again. Local should be shut down completely or the restrictions imposed on local trains should be reinstated as in the past. The state government is considering implementing some restrictions," said Vijay Wadettiwar, the minister of state.
Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar had also earlier stated that the train services might be restricted to only essential services staff only as in the past.
Cases in Mumbai
Mumbai reported 8,938 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, a drop from over 10,000 infections each on the previous two days, and 23 fresh deaths, the city civic body said.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) updated data, with the addition of 8,938 cases, the city's Covid-19 tally surged to 4,91,698, while the death toll jumped to 11,874.
The financial capital had reported 10,428 new Covid-19 cases and 23 fatalities on Wednesday and 10,030 infections and 31 deaths on Tuesday.
Cases in Maharashtra
Maharashtra reported 56,286 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, which took its caseload to 32,29,547, while 376 deaths due to the infection pushed the toll to 57,028, the health department said.
On Wednesday, the state had recorded the highest daily count of 59,907 cases and 322 fatalities.
A total of 36,130 patients recuperated and got discharge from hospitals on Thursday, due to which the state's recovery count reached 26,49,757.
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