“There is a need to resume air, railways, and bus transport as people are stranded. I think it needs to be done,” Gadkari said.
This can be a long process and fear of people being caught up in the pandemic will take time to overcome. The social distancing has to be followed with other norms like hand sanitizers, masks, hand wash while operating vehicles.
The government had relaxed public transportation in green and orange zone with the implementation of lockdown 3.0. However, some transport such as air transport or inter-State movement has still not been relieved throughout the country.
“However, movement of persons by air, rail and road is allowed for select purposes, and for purposes as permitted by MHA,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.
Some guidelines in orange and green zone public transport were:
Buses are not functional in the orange zone and 50% seating capacity in the green zone. Taxis and cab are permitted to carry one passenger with only one driver. In the red zone, private vehicles can have one driver and two more passengers and only one driver in two-wheelers. Stranded migrant workers are allowed to undertake inter-state ‘Shramik Special’ trains arranged by the government.
There has been a mission implemented by the government to bring stranded Indians back to the country. For that, 64 flights and 3 naval ships would be operating starting Thursday.
