Refrain from running regular trains for a month: States to Centre
State governments, including Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal have told the Centre that resumption of passenger rail service would lead to a further increase in Covid-19 cases.
by Nidhi Sharma
New Delhi: With migrant labourers returning to their states leading to a spike in fresh Covid-19 cases, state governments have conveyed their serious reservations to the Centre over resuming partial passenger rail service –– barring migrant specials –– for at least a month.
State governments, including Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal have told the Centre that resumption of passenger rail service would lead to a further increase in Covid-19 cases.
The Opposition-ruled states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal have conveyed that the states should first tide over the current problem of testing migrant labourers at quarantine centres, handle the increasing cases and then be given the fresh challenge of managing passengers coming by trains to their states.
Confirming this, Chhattisgarh health minister TS Singhdeo told ET, “States are against resumption of partial passenger service beyond the special trains being run to take migrant labourers home. We can control air travel and test passengers in a controlled manner as there are limited numbers. But resumption of even partial service would mean throwing our health machinery out of gear. We are not prepared to handle those numbers at railway stations. We have conveyed this to the Centre also. We cannot block train traffic in any way on our own.” The states are already discouraging inter-state road traffic.
According to sources, the Odisha government has told the Centre that resumption of partial rail service to help migrant labourers reach home is a necessity but the government should wait before opening up train travel.
The Hindi heartland states are witnessing a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases after migrant labourers started arriving by trains. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh –– five states which had seen low numbers so far –– have suddenly seen the number of cases doubling in less than a week.