Commuter associations threaten stir officials say decision on allowing public in local trains expected soon

Threat of stir comes a week after passenger associations submitted their ‘Right to Travel’ plan with Central Railway officials

Enough is enough! Commuter organisations on Thursday announced that if the Maharashtra government does not yield to their demands for allowing public access to local trains, they will stage a protest at all railway stations with black bands. Officials, however, said that a decision on the issue is expected soon. 

We have been filing appeals, day in and day out, people have been suffering in bus queues, but the government is not even discussing the subject, which is gross ignorance. Mumbaikars will not take this lying down and we will express the displeasure by wearing black bands,” said Madhu Kotian, president of Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh. Kotian said that he will discuss the plan with other city-based organisations and get support as it is now the “height of ignorance.”

Commuters board a train at Dadar station in June. File pic

Civic officials said that there were plans to relax restrictions in local trains for the fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the second phase of unlocking, but a final decision, however, will be taken by the Uddhav Thackeray-led state government. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is the nodal civic authority for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) region to make decisions on local trains.

Commuter organisations last week met the authorities and came up with an hourly slot-wise commute capacity plan, based on official statistics of passengers and local trains in service, terming it Mumbaikars’ ‘Right to Travel’. The plan demanded an increased ticket-issuing capacity at all stations.

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