The Maharasthra government announced that only government personnel in ‘essential services’ would be allowed to travel by local trains in Mumbai from next week, a release by the Konkan divisional commissioner said on Saturday night.
The restriction will bring to a halt, Mumbai’s local train services, often called the city’s lifeline from Sunday March 22.
Apart from the government officials involved in provision of essential services (who will have to produce their id-cards), only those who need urgent medical aid would be allowed to travel, said the release by divisional commissioner Shivaji Daund.
Those who are traveling by local train to reach railway terminus for boarding a long-distance train will also be allowed on inspection of their journey tickets.
Earlier, Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope had said that the government would be compelled to shut down the local train services and other modes of public transport if crowds did not thin.
Maharashtra has recorded 64 cases of coronavirus so far, including 19 in Mumbai.