Mumbai: Only fully vaccinated people can board local trains

The order issued by the government stated that the mandatory requirement of being fully vaccinated for travelling by local trains was being extended to personnel of essential services as well as all government employees. “Also, the universal pass, which will be a compulsory requirement for the purpose of travel, will henceforth be issued to only those citizens who fall within the definition of a vaccinated person, irrespective of whether they belong to essential services or not,” the order signed by Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte read.

An order issued on October 8 by the government had defined a vaccinated person as one who has completed both doses of the vaccine and 14 days have lapsed since the administration of the second dose.

Kunte also said that commuters will be issued passes, including monthly, quarterly and half-yearly, only if they fall within the category of “vaccinated person”.

At present, the Central Railway and the Western Railway zones have been issuing monthly passes to vaccinated commuters instead of daily tickets to curb crowding.

On Monday, both the railway zones said that suburban rail services in Mumbai will be operated at 100% capacity from October 28 but the existing travel restrictions for the general public will remain unchanged. The decision was taken considering the increased flow of commuters, a railway official said.

Owing to Covid-19 lockdown from March 2020, train services were stopped for a few months. Later from June 2020, the railways began suburban services for workers belonging to essential services, as identified by the state government and approved by the ministry of railways. The category of such commuters was subsequently enlarged in August 2021 and again in recent weeks.