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Updated April 9th, 2021 at 18:21 IST

'No plan to stop services,' asserts Indian Railway amid surge in COVID-19 cases

The Indian railways on Friday asserted that the train services will continue as per usual, and will not stop owing to the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases.

Reported by: Sudeshna Singh
COVID
PTI | Image:self
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Amid rising cases of COVID-19, and various restrictions being imposed throughout the country, the Indian Railways on Friday came forward to clear the air around its functioning. The Railway Board Chairperson Suneet Sharma in a press conference asserted that there will be no stop on the train services and they will continue to be provided as per the demand while reiterating that there is no shortage of trains.  

"Train services will continue to be provided as per the demand. There is no shortage of train services and no plan to stop train services," Sharma said. 

In view of the crowding of migrants at the railway station, the Indian Railways has also provided for extra trains. Elaborating on the same, Sharma said, "We are running more trains in April-May 2021 to clear the rush. We've announced 58 trains (Central Rly) & 60 trains (Western Rly) for places having high demand like Gorakhpur, Patna, Darbhanga, Varanasi, Guwahati, Barauni, Prayagraj, Ranchi, Lucknow."

Last year, when the lockdown was imposed, in the absence of the railways and other means of transportation, many migrants were forced to walk back to their hometown. 

COVID scenario in India 

Currently facing the second wave COVID-19, India registered a single-day spike of 1,31,968 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing its caseload to 1,30,60,542. With 780 fatalities, the death toll increased to 1,67,642, which is the highest since October 18, as per the information provided by the Health Ministry. 

The COVID-19 tally of India breached the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 30-lakh mark on August 23, 40-lakh mark on September 5, 50-lakh mark on September 16, 60-lakh mark on September 28, 70-lakh mark on October 11, 80 lakh mark on October 29, 90-lakh mark on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19. 

Presently, the cases stand at the 1.3 crore mark, but are rapidly rising. To control, the rise, PM Modi on Thursday held a review meeting with the Chief Ministers of the States and Union Territories, in which he put too much emphasis on 'Test-Track-Treat' protocol and vaccination. 

(Credits-PTI/Representative Image)

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Published April 9th, 2021 at 18:21 IST

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