File Photo

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Government has on Friday requested the Central and Western Railways to allow all ladies to travel in local trains in Mumbai from October 17 between 11 AM and 3 PM and again from 7 PM onwards till the end of local services for the day.

"During the said period, entry may be allowed to all ladies having valid tickets and to all emergency staff as well. QR codes will not be required for ladies travelling during the said time period," read the notification.

"The local train services to all the personnel of all sectors that have been notified as emergency services till date shall continue as are being provided currently i.e, for the entire day," the notification added.

Meanwhile, a Railway official told the Free Press Journal that they have received the request "but it will be implemented after the Ministry of Railways gives the approval".

Earlier, the Maharashtra Government allowed Metro trains to operate in a phased manner under its 'Mission Begin Again' initiative. Meanwhile, Mumbai Metro thanked the Government and said they "have already initiated safety inspections and trial runs". They also said that the passenger operations will restart from 8:30 am on October 19.

Taking to Twitter, Mumbai Metro wrote, "@MumMetro is thankful to Government of Maharashtra for allowing metro operations. We have already initiated safety inspections and trial runs, and are set to restart passenger operations from Monday, 19th October 2020, 8:30 am. #MissionBeginAgain #HaveANiceDay."

Besides, Mumbai city reported 2,119 new cases, which pushed its overall count to 2,36,721, while its death toll rose to 9,601 of which 46 were reported on Thursday.

Maharashtra's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases: 15,64,615, new cases: 10,226, death toll: 41,196, discharged: 13,40,483, active cases: 1,92,459, people tested so far: 79,14,651.

The publishers permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)