Mumbai: Teachers demand train travel pass with just one dose of vaccine

Double vaccination is needed for train travel

Teachers are demanding to be allowed to board local trains with just one dose of vaccine. As schools in the city are set to reopen tomorrow, teachers are preparing to travel. With many still not fully vaccinated, they fear taking alternative modes of travel, as they are not eligible for the local train pass.

Currently, only those citizens who are fully vaccinated are allowed to take the monthly pass to board local trains, this too after completing 14 days from the second shot of vaccine. But now, teachers are insisting on local train travel as other modes of transportation would be costly and time-consuming.

"I should not be forced to use other modes of transport to reach school. Too much time and money will be spent," shared a teacher who lives in Dahisar and works at a school in Andheri. Some teachers have also shared that it was difficult to get a vaccine shot, and so it took longer for them to get the first one. "If we are not fully vaccinated, as per the BMC guidelines, we have to show a negative RTPCR report valid for 48 hours. Now, we cannot be asked to spend more on travelling too. The government has to review the local train restrictions with more compassion," shared another teacher from Vasai, who teaches at a Kandivli school.

Anil Bornare from BJP's teachers' organisation, who has written to the state school education minister Varsha Gaikwad, said, "It is not only teachers, but also non-teaching staff who will be affected." He added, "The government should also help schools with a tight budget by providing face masks, sanitisers, and thermal guns."