Mumbai: Commuters hand railways a ‘right to travel’ roadmap, plan bats for time-based passes

Is there a plan for when the state green lights local train travel Calling out the railways for twiddling its thumbs and pointing fingers at the state government a delegation of commuters handed the railways an hourly commuting plan called Right to Travel based on official passenger and train statistics On the other hand an idea first reported by midday of allowing those fully vaccinated on trains is gaining momentum with the government and passengersTrain commuters in Borivli File picTaxpayers are not allowed to travel only government employees are If taxpayers do not earn how will they pay taxes which are used to pay central government employeesrdquo said Madhu Kotian Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh president who met Central Railwayrsquos divisional officers at Mumbai CSMT with the delegationldquoThe railways cannot always say that they are waiting for the state governmentrsquos nod and do nothing They too need to be responsible We have offered certain points with a time plan which can be easily implementedrdquo Siddhesh Desai vicepresident of the Sangh saidAlso read lsquoBMC police left me to die on the roadrsquoCounting numbersOf the 3141 daily services about 88 per cent that is 2779 are running Each local has a capacity of 1000 as per Covid curbs The plan argues that even if 70 per cent of total passengers are allowed one lakh can travel It demands that the ticket issuing capacity be boostedSpokespersons for both Central Railway and Western Railway said that they are following all Covid protocols and coordinating with the state governmentPassengers for travel of the fullyvaccinatedThe idea of allowing fully vaccinated people on local trains reported by midday in May is gaining popularity among passengers and the state governmentShailesh Goyal of Western Railway Zonal Usersrsquo Consultative Committee who pitched the idea said that Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope too agreed on itldquoTope said that local train access can be given to public if we speed up vaccination If we want to bring the economy back on track we will have to give utmost importance to vaccinationrdquo Goyal saidPassenger association member Rajiv Singhal said if vaccination is made compulsory for local train travel people will get the shotsBMC poll politics involvedRail Yatri Sangh member Subhash Gupta claimed that there is politics related to civic elections behind the local train access issue ldquoThe Disaster Management ministry is with the Congress and it is not allowing public access to local trains But the common man is upset with CM Uddhav Thackeray and Shiv Sena There could be politics behind this I feelrdquo he saidPassengers wait for a train at Borivli station on July 2 File picThe planThe delegation requested the state government municipalities and railways to come together and convert entries and exits into Metrolike entrances Till the pandemic lasts they have suggested deploying timebased passesgtgt Red Pass Grade I7 am1030 am 5 pm7 pmFor essential workersgtgt Yellow Grade II430 am630 am 730 pm930 pmFor private employees shopkeepersgtgt Green Grade IIIOther timings for rest of the dayAs per the plan each pass should have a buffer of 30 minutes Plan will encourage offices to work in shifts Trains can be fully utilised instead of having one side completely empty The plan also urges the State to help the railways build infrastructure at entry and exit points No hawkers to be allowed in a 100 m radius from the station2779No of services running currently03No of categories for passes