30 July,2021 07:39 AM IST | Mumbai | Rajendra B. Aklekar
About 60 per cent of the WR employees in Mumbai have received either the first dose or both the doses. File Pics
Amid the demand to allow fully vaccinated citizens to take all forms of public transport (an idea first floated by mid-day), a crucial question arises - has the city immunised those operating Mumbai locals, BEST buses, taxis and autos? mid-day takes a look at how many of these employees have taken their anti-Coronavirus shots.
Central Railway officials said that nearly 70 per cent of its Mumbai division staff have either taken the first shot or both, and about 97 per cent of them are aged 45 years and above. Of the 29,598 serving CR employees in Mumbai division, 22,195 have received their first dose and merely 7,403 have got both the shots.
A conductor prevents commuters from entering a bus at Dadar
"Central Railway has also been vaccinating dependants of serving as well as retired employees and in certain instances even outsiders as a part of its social responsibility. Overall, so far 43,047 people have got the first dose and 17,238 both doses," CR chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said.
On Western Railway, about 80 per cent of staff has received either the first dose or both the doses, including about 60 per cent in Mumbai. "Of the 20,430 employees in the Mumbai division, 12,255 have got the first dose and 4,250 both doses. At the headquarters, over 72 per cent employees have been vaccinated," WR chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said.
The frontline staff of medical and Railway Protection Force cadre on WR have been vaccinated 100 per cent, he added. Recently, a three-day vaccination camp was also organised at Mumbai Central station for porters, stall workers and parcel helpers working there, and 160 people were vaccinated.
About 60 per cent of employees of Mumbai's BEST buses have been fully vaccinated. "About 27,000 employees (80 per cent) have taken the first dose and 18,000 (60 per cent) both the doses," Dr Anilkumar Singal, pulmonologist and BEST's chief medical officer, told mid-day.
Most cabbies are getting vaccinated independently
Mumbai Taximen's Union General Secretary Anthony Quadros said most cabbies were getting vaccinated independently, and that there is no central database. The case with auto-rickshaw drivers is the same.
Uber on Thursday announced that more than 1,00,000 drivers on its platform had received at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot. "It has developed a robust tech-enabled validation process to authenticate each vaccination claim by matching driver details registered with Uber with drivers' digital vaccination certificates extracted from CoWIN. Once this process is completed, drivers receive Rs 400 for each shot for time spent getting vaccinated," a spokesperson said.
