Following the directives of the Supreme Court, Mumbai's present lifeline - Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking on Friday announced it won't charge any migrant labourers for ferrying them at the city railway stations.
BEST undertaking has been providing uninterrupted transport service to the essential service providers of the city eversince the lockdown has been imposed, to fight the global coronavirus pandemic. However, following the instructions of Mumbai police, the transport undertaking took the initiative of ferrying the workers to the railway stations after special Shramik special trains were started by the railway ministry.
The passengers were charged according to the distance travelled and according to the bus routes.
"Earlier, they were charged as per the general fare rates. We were providing special buses for the labourers on request with Mumbai Police, eversince the Shramik special trains were introduced" added Varade.
Meanwhile, BEST is also ferrying incoming passengers from abroad via flights to the quarantine and transferring them to the various quarantine facilities in Mumbai. The civic body has transformed several hotels into institutional quarantine centres for the passengers who are being airlifted from foreign territories.
BEST has deployed fifteen of its conventional buses regularly who are transferring these passengers to the institutional quarantine centres from the airport regularly
Each passenger is charged Rs 50, wherein Rs 25 is charged for luggage and Rs 25 is charged as passenger fare.
"BEST is providing this special service eversince the special flight operations resumed. There is no transport services available, thus we are providing transport service by charging a nominal amount" said a senior BEST official, who was in charge of the airport operations on Friday.
"Special fights from Korea, Japan, Peru and Europe land here every alternate day. The passengers are then being dropped at the institutional quarantine centres as per their preference. At present, there are more than 40 hotels across the city which are being transformed into quarantine facilities. Our employees are also being given protective gears" stated the official.
