The Western Railway on Tuesday released a list of categories of essential staff that have been allowed to travel on local trains.
The Western Railway has allowed Mumbai's dabbawalas and staff of foreign consulates and high commissions to travel in local trains which are currently being run only for essential services staff.
Dabbawalas, the famous lunch-box carriers in Mumbai, last month had demanded access to local trains to resume their services in full capacity. Currently, in view of the COVID-19 restrictions, only the dabbawalas who could reach the south Mumbai area on their cycles were able to deliver food to office-goers.
The Western Railway on September 18 had said that a total of 500 suburban train services will be run in Mumbai from September 21, an increase from the 350 currently on the tracks amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The suburban trains in operation now are only for frontline staff and essential service workers as laid down by the state government, and a QR code-empowered ticketing mechanism is in place for those who need to board.
The local trains were suspended for the general public since the lockdown began on March 22. The Western Railway and Central Railway resumed their Mumbai suburban services over mainline and Harbour line on June 15. These special suburban services were only for general passengers/public and were strictly meant for ‘essential staff’ as identified by the state government. Those working in private sector cannot use them, due to which most of them are struggling to reach their workplaces.
Here's the full list of Essential Services staff permitted to travel by local trains:
1. All Railway staff including staff of all Railway PSUs (MRVC, IRCTC, etc.) & all who have been issued authority to travel in Workmen Special.
2. All staff of Mantralaya including staff of Collector Office.
3. Staff of all Municipal Corporation (MCGM, MBMC, VVMC, TMC, KDMC, NMMC, Palghar Municipal Corporation) including Municipal School teachers & contractual staff engaged by Municipal Corporations
4 Maharashtra Police including Mumbai Police and GRP.
5. Employees of BEST, MSRTC, MBMT, VVMT, NMMT, TMT, KDMT
6. All employees of Central Government & employees of Central Government PSUs
7. Defence personnel, employees of Income Tax, GST, Customs Department of Post, Mumbai Port Trust, Judiciary and Raj Bhavan.
8. Employees of Nationalised Banks
9. All Government/Private Hospital staff including all Pathological/Lab testing/Pharma staff
10. Employees of approved Air craft maintenance and repair organization (MRO).
11. Staff of all the private electricity supply companied viz Adani Electricity Mumbai ltd, Tata Power Company Ltd, etc.
12. Personnel of all Co-Operative Banks and Private Banks
13. Employees of Consulate General's, High Commissioner's, Honorary Consulate General's and International Institutes
14. Dabbawalas in Mumbai Metropolitan area.
The Western Railway in a statement said: "All concerned are instructed to issue Journey Ticket /Season Ticket to the above enlisted Essential Servicesstaff on production of valid Identity Card issued by their organisation. The journey ticket /season ticket shall be valid with identity card issued by concerned organization only."
