Surat : New and stricter rules for people entering Maharashtra from Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Goa, which came into force on Wednesday, have caused panic among passengers. Many passengers had their tickets canceled instead of going through the hassle of RT-PCR tests. Moreover, these new rules have created confusion for train, road and air passengers.
According to the new standard operating procedures (SOPs), passengers arriving by train will have to test the corona within 96 hours of their scheduled arrival, while passengers travelling by air will have to test within 72 hours of landing.
Within hours of the announcement of the new rules by the state government on Monday, ticket cancellations had gone up by 50 percent on the Western Railway and 3 percent on the Central Railway. Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer (CPRO) of Western Railway, said an average of 3800 tickets were canceled daily during November 1-20. On Monday, the number rose sharply to 6100. Not only trains, but also private bus tickets and bookings of private taxis were canceled.
On the other hand, after the new protocol was announced on Monday, the demand for buses arriving in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) increased by 25-30 percent as everyone wanted to reach the city before the new rules came into force. There are about 37000 buses in MMR and 1 lakh buses in Maharashtra. About 3000 buses travelled from MMR to neighboring states last week, which will return this week. That is why private bus operators have warned their drivers about the possibility of heavy checking of Covid19 at the border.
Some bus operators also questioned whether the authorities were really ready for the gigantic task of screening everyone at the border check post. For example, if 30 passengers come in each of the 300 buses, 2000 people have to be checked at the border every day. Moreover, most of the private buses enter the state at night to reach Mumbai early in the morning.
RTO officials admitted that with so many people gathering at checkpoints day and night, it would be extremely difficult to take their antigen tests or measure their temperature. About 10,000 taxis arrive daily from various cities in Maharashtra.
There is another problem for railway officials. Out-of-town trains also stop at local train stations like Dadar, Andheri and Borivali. Outbound and local passengers use the same platforms at these stations. The big question is how to differentiate outbound and local passengers from the thousands of passengers.