Public transport resumes in Delhi after nearly 2 months, distancing norms in place

Public transport resumed in Delhi on Tuesday with 2,000 buses, besides auto-rickshaws and taxis plying on the road, albeit with a limited number of passengers, after a gap of nearly two months due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said that the department is taking all the necessary precautions with resumption of public transport and he urged people to wear masks and ensure social distancing.

"Thermal scanning has been started at some terminals and bus stands. We will ensure it at all the busy bus stands. The government under leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is taking all the necessary steps," he tweeted. The Delhi Transport Corporation and cluster buses resumed services with social-distancing norms and safety measures in place like use of sanitizers and masks to check the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Gahlot said that more than 2,000 buses were on the roads on Tuesday. Additionally, around 1,400 buses were kept at the disposal of revenue and police departments for movement of migrants to railway station and for law and order duties respectively, he said. The minister said number of buses will increase in the days to come when more and more drivers, who reside in neighboring states, report for work.   The number of public transport buses in the city is around 6,500.

A detailed SOP for the movement of buses, RTVs and para-transit vehicles has been worked out in view of need to ensure safe commute during the epidemic. "We are trying to run as many buses as possible. But, many buses are under special hire and also some of our drivers and conductors living in the NCR cities are finding it difficult to join the duty. The situation will improve in coming days," a senior transport officer said.

He said no major issues have been reported since the bus services resumed in the morning, except in some areas where people had to wait for a bit longer, he said. Sources said that some cluster buses in rural areas did not ply due to boycott by drivers demanding their wages during the lockdown period. "Many cluster buses from Dhichaukalan, Kanjhawala, Kair and Bawana depot did not ply as the drivers demanding payment of pending wages refused to join work," said a source.

The auto-rickshaw and taxi unions in the city claimed that the restrictions on number of passengers hampered their services. "The government has allowed only one passenger in an auto which should be changed to at least two passengers. Many drivers had to say no to passengers at railway station due to this norm," said Rajender Soni, general secretary of Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh.

Kamaljeet Gill, president of Sarvodaya Driver Association of Delhi -- a body of drivers of cab aggregators -- said, "Most of our member drivers took out their vehicles but could not find any rides since people mostly kept indoors. We hope the situation will improve in next few days." The association is providing hand sanitizers at lower rates to the drivers and also helping them in setting up plastic covers inside the cars to protect from coronavirus, at nominal charges, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)