As Mumbai sees a surge in the COVID-19 cases, the matter has left Mayor Kishori Pednekar in concern. On Wednesday, the mayor travelled in Mumbai's lifeline local train to survey the guidelines and precautions followed by the commuters.
After almost 10 months hiatus, the Government of Maharashtra had opened the gates for all commuters in the city with a particular time slot. The Mumbai local is running with complete service, but there are certain timings allotted to essential and non-essential travellers.
The Mayor travelled in local train from Byculla to CSMT and urged people to wear masks. She said, "After Railway services resumed, COVID-19 cases spiked in not just Mumbai but entire state. Lockdown won't be implemented, but the situation is worrisome."
Scores of people travel daily in the locals and now that the trains are open for all the commuters in the city, it is being cited as one of the main reasons for a rise in cases.
On Tuesday, Pednekar also told The Free Press Journal “there is no chance of imposing another lockdown, the spike in cases is not very high and it can be easily controlled by implementing stricter policies and penalising those who are flouting Covid-19 protocols.”
Earlier, the chief minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray warned the public to take possible precautions and follow COVID-19 protocols or another lockdown will be imposed in the view of increasing cases.
The Mumbai Locals were made open to all the commuters on February 1 with allotment of particular time slots to the essential and non-essential travelers. Meanwhile, Maharashtra as on Tuesday recorded 3,663 new COVID-19 cases with 461 fresh cases in Mumbai and at least 39 deaths have taken the toll to 51,591 deaths.
On Tuesday, in a press conference, the Health Ministry revealed that Maharashtra and Kerala account for 72 percent of cases in India.
