Passengers can travel on all seats of buses from Nov 1: Delhi Transport Min Gahlot

Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot on Saturday said passengers can travel on all seats of public transport buses from vember 1, and cautioned that travellers will have to compulsorily wear face masks and maintain physical distancing.  Gahlot, however, said passengers will be allowed to travel in standing position.

With rise in number of COVID-19 cases, Delhi government h in May fixed number of maximum passenger in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Cluster scheme buses to 20.

Lt Goverr Anil Baijal, who is chairman of Delhi Disaster Manment Authority, (DDMA) recently gave approval to Delhi government's proposal to run public transport buses with full seating capacity.  DDMA, in its order issued by Chief Secretary Vijay Dev on Sunday, said movement of buses will be permitted on trial basis up to vember 8 or till furr orders, whichever is earlier, subject to condition that passenger will be allowed to travel in a standing position, without mask and all or stipulations of standard operating procedure.

In a tweet, Gahlot said bus travellers will require to wear face masks and appealed to people to observe proper physical distancing in view of COVID-19 threat.

" passengers can travel on all seats of buses from tomorrow.  passenger, however, will be allowed to travel in standing position. Wearing mask is compulsory and I appeal to all travellers to maintain social distance to check spre of Corona virus," Gahlot tweeted.

As per SOP, in case number of persons boarding bus is more than seating capacity, driver and conductor will request extra passengers to de-board with help of marshal, if available.  In case extra passengers refuse to comply with order, driver and conductor will seek police assistance, it said.

In case driver of any DTC or Cluster bus is found carrying passengers more than vehicle's seating capacity, strict disciplinary action will be taken against him and he will also be liable for prosecution action under Disaster Manment Act 2005, it ded.

DDMA also directed Transport commissioner and managing directors of DTC and DIMTS to ensure strict compliance of its order, saying disciplinary proceedings will be initiated against driver and conductor of bus, and responsibility will be fixed of depot manr concerned for supervisory lapses.

With opening of various ecomic activities and government and private establishments in city, people were forced to wait in long queues often at crowded bus stands due to restricted number of passengers in buses.  number of DTC and Cluster buses seat up to 40 passengers. re are around 3,800 buses run by DTC and over 2,600 run under Cluster scheme of Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System.

DDMA chairman h also approved proposal of Transport department to resume inter-state bus service.  inter-state bus services was stopped after imposition of lockdown in March, resulting in shutting down of inter-state bus terminals at Anand Vihar, Sarai Kale Khan and Kashmiri Gate.

Transport department is preparing a standard operating procedure for opening inter-state bus services. It is expected to begin next week, officials said. PTI VIT TDS TDS