Mumbai moving towards staggering of office hours

Meant to ensure even distribution of peak hour crowds in suburban rail network

@hepzia

Mumbai: Finally, Mumbai is now moving towards staggering office timings to evenly distribute the peak hour crowds in Mumbai’s transportation system especially the suburban railway network. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the officials of the railways are already holding a series of talks along with the state government on this issue. 

Staggering of office timings is essentially meant to distribute working timings of different establishments to ensure distribution of crowds in transportation networks, especially the trains. Railways are dangerously overcrowded during peak hours, while the crowds are quite comfortable during the rest of the day. “The heavy peak hour passenger traffic puts constraints on the available resources of all modes of transport. The BMC will look into creating variations in office timings either in different organisations or in different areas” divisional railway manager of Mumbai division of Western Railway GVL Satyakumar told thenews21.com. 

“It’s an old idea that will eventually have to be implemented at some point of time. The acute need for social distancing in the current scenario due to Covid-19 pandemic has only added to the urgency. All stake-holders right from the Maharashtra government, union Ministry for Home Affairs, union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and union Railway ministry will have to coordinate for this,” said GVL Satyakumar. 

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He stated that while the BMC will be the primary executing authority to identify the organisations in different areas and to notify the change in their office timings, the railways would have to bear the cascading impact of that decision. The suburban rail networks are the most popular mode of transport in India plying over 7.5 million passengers per day. Currently, the railways are plying about 700 services per day for about 3 lakh essential workers, on the request of the Maharashtra government. 

The railways have stated that they are geared up to operate full services on the request of the state government. While the Mumbai railways directly under the Union railway ministry, the state government’s role becomes critical due to the enforcement of the Disaster  Management Act in the state right now..   

“There is nothing new in this demand. This proposal was originally mooted by former railway minister Suresh Prabhu. We have been requesting the state to implement this for quite some time,” said senior public relations officer of Central Railway, Anil Jain.

Leader of the Opposition in the BMC, Ravi Raja stated: “The BMC derives its special powers during the Covid from the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 is in force. Once that Act gets withdrawn post-Covid, the BMC will cease to have binding authority over offices or private establishments. Hence, it’s for the state government to play a critical role by involving all stakeholders.”