After Western & Central, East Coast Railways hikes platform ticket price amid Coronavirus

As a preventive measure to fight against the coronavirus, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) on Wednesday increased the cost of a platform ticket from Rs 10 to Rs 50 for railway stations of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Bhadrak, Brahmapur, Sambalpur and Rayagada in Odisha.

Three other stations include Visakhapatnam, Vizianagram, Srikkulam Road railway stations in Andhra Pradesh. The Western Railways and Central Railways have already implemented the price hike of platform tickets across multiple cities.

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Platform Ticket Price For Over 250 Railway Stations

In order to minimize the footfall of people amidst the Coronavirus epidemic, the railways on Tuesday hiked the prices of platform tickets from Rs 10 to Rs 50 for over 250 railway stations across the country. The official revealed that in the case of Western Railways, the prices of the platform tickets have been raised to Rs 50 for select railway stations. These are namely Mumbai, Vadodra, Ahmedabad, Ratlam, Rajkot, and Bhavnagar. 

READ | Platform ticket price for over 250 railway stations hiked to Rs 50 as Coronavirus measure

Coronavirus in India

As of date, the total number of positive cases in India has reached 152. Along with it, three deaths have been reported in Kalaburagi, West Delhi, and Mumbai respectively. India has suspended all visas, barring for a few categories such as diplomatic and employment apart from keeping in abeyance the visa-free travel facility to OCI cardholders till April 15.

Moreover, the Centre has “strongly advised” Indians to avoid all non-essential travel abroad. The central government as well as the state governments are also monitoring all suspected cases and have issued preventive advisories. Earlier on Saturday, the Central Government decided to treat the deadly virus as a "notified disaster". The State governments have also issued their advisories, ranging from work-from-home recommendations to closures of schools and colleges. 

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(With inputs from ANI)