Railways services including metro trains suspended till 31st March; Lock-down in 75 districts

New Delhi, March 23: After an increase in the number of cases due the novel coronavirus in India, the government on Sunday has opted to suspend all the railways services including passenger trains, metro rails and also the inter-state bus services till 31st March. It has also decided to implement a complete locdown in 75 districts where the cases have been reported.

 

 

In a high level meeting, PM Narendra Modi with Cabinet Secretary along with the chief secreatries of all the states took the decisions while reviewing the status, actions taken and preparedness to contain the virus through a video conference. In this meeting, they decided all train services including 13,523 passenger services with metro rails services and interstate passenger transport to be suspended till 31st March. However, the good trains might be continued for the availability of essential commodities. "These measures are temporary but extremely vital to break the chain of transmission," the statement said.

 

The 75 districts where lockdown was announced are from states that include Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. "State governements has issued order allowing only essential services to operate in districts with confirmed COVID-19 cases. The focus should be on closure of all activities except essential services such as hospitals, telecom, medicine shops, provision stores etc," it added.

 

The suspension came after the railways had found some cases of coronavirus-infected passengers in trains, which makes train travel risky. To avoid train travel as many passengers can get infected they have suggested to postpone the journeys. According to the latest reports, 359 confirmed cases have been reported including 7 deaths in India