The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Shiv Sena-led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, and demanded an immediate resumption of local trains in MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region).
"The Aam Aadmi Party demands that the MVA and Central Governments work together with BMC to find a solution wherein citizens can travel without the fear of contracting Covid-19. We need the Local Train and Metros service to run in full steam and the bus services to be enhanced," AAP said in a press release.
Lashing out at Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government and the BMC, AAP leader Preeti Sharma Menon said that they are ignoring people's problems like ostriches.
"Mumbai's local train services and BEST bus services are not running at full capacity, and this hits the weaker income group and middle class the most as they don't have the luxuries of private vehicles and cannot afford taxis. The last 8 months have been very hard on the common people and now that workplaces have opened, travel has become nightmare for all," she said.
"The BMC and State Government are ignoring the problem like ostriches and if they can't see then AAP will be happy to provide them with visuals of bus stop queues and crowded buses that are putting public health to risk," Menon added.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Minister and Congress leader Vijay Waddetiwar on Tuesday said that Mumbai local trains may resume services from January 1. He added that the state government is mulling ways to resume services and make proper arrangements for the safety of passengers.
BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal had also hinted that the state government might only consider resuming suburban local train services post-December 31.
"It took a lot of effort from all our frontline workers to get a grip over the rising number of cases in the city; teams have slogged day and night tracing contacts, ensuring safety protocols are followed etc. We do not want to take a hasty decision and ruin all that. We will recommend to the state government that suburban train services be resumed for all only after monitoring the situation during Christmas and New Year celebrations. Depending on the situation, we can decide on re-starting local trains from January 1, 2021," Chahal said.
