Bowing to public pressure and nod from CM, BMC agrees to allow commuters on suburban local trains

@nag228

Mumbai: Bowing to public pressure and following official orders coming from the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday issued orders kickstarting the procedure for issuance of the railway monthly pass from August 11 to those citizens who are fully vaccinated. However, all such prior-validated commuters will only be allowed to commence travel from August 15 only.

As per the guidelines issued by the BMC, citizens who have completed 14 days after their second dose of Covid vaccine, will be eligible to get the monthly pass or ticket on producing the print out of the Covid-19 Vaccination Final Certificate and a Photo ID for verification. Though, railway will start issuing the pass from August 11, people will be allowed to travel from August 15 only.

Commuting by train has been restricted for the general people since the pandemic broke out in March 2020. As the travel restrictions are being lifted there will be a mad rush at the railway ticket counters. In order to avoid any chaos or any inconvenience to the passengers the BMC has decided to set up 358 help desks at 53 railway stations in Mumbai Municipal Corporation area. Besides this, help desks will also be opened at 109 stations across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, which will be operating in two consecutive sessions from 7 am to 11 pm.

The BMC has warned that strict legal action will be taken against anyone found to produce bogus certificates.

“Recently, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced allowing citizens of Mumbai to travel in suburban trains from August 15. Accordingly, in order to make it convenient for the citizens to travel in local trains and obtain Railway Monthly Pass, an offline verification process for Covid-19 Final Vaccination (completed 14 days after second dose) will start from tomorrow, August 11 at 53 railway stations in BMC jurisdiction area and at 109 railway stations in Mumbai Metropolitan Region. It will be functional in two consecutive sessions from 7 am to 11 pm”, said Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner, Iqbal Singh Chahal.

Further, Chahal said there was a constant public demand that those who have been administered both the doses of the COVID-19 vaccine should be allowed to travel in Mumbai’s Suburban Railways. Taking cognizance of this, this decision was taken for the convenience of the citizens.The offline process of issuing monthly season passes will continue on all seven days of the week till further orders and therefore citizens need not rush to the railway stations, he added.

Before issuing the railway travel pass, the BMC staff at the help desk will check the validity of the final vaccination certificate (Second Dose) of the concerned citizen on the Cowin app. They will also check the photo ID proof. Once the verification is completed and both the documents are found to be valid, the certificate and the identification proof will be stamped in the prescribed format.

The stamped Covid Certificate shall be presented at the ticket window at the railway station. Railway Monthly Pass will be issued by Railway, accordingly on its basis. However, this pass-based travel facility will be valid from August 15 only and not before that.

Citizens who have not been administered even a single dose or have been administered only one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, will not be allowed to travel on suburban trains at present.

Government and Semi-Government and other employees in essential services will be allowed to travel by local trains as per the usual practice, irrespective of Covid vaccination. Therefore, they are permitted to travel on suburban trains on a regular basis.