Flights, Passenger Trains Unlikely To Start After Phase 2 of COVID-19 Lockdown Ends on May 3
Services of all passenger trains and flight may be suspended after May 3, as social distancing remains a major problem in public transport. The novel coronavirus cases in India has reached 15,712, while 507 deaths have been reported so far.
New Delhi, April 19: Services of all passenger trains and flight may be suspended after May 3, as social distancing remains a major problem in public transport. The novel coronavirus cases in India has reached 15,712, while 507 deaths have been reported so far. Air India on Saturday started taking bookings after May 3, however, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that no decision has been taken yet to open domestic and international operations. Catch all the live news updates related to coronavirus pandemic in India and other parts of the world.
"The Ministry of Civil Aviation clarifies that so far no decision has been taken to open domestic or international operations. Airlines are advised to open their bookings only after a decision in this regard has been taken by the Government," Puri tweeted.
Civil Aviation Minister Tweet:
According to a report in Hindustan Times, one union minister, on condition of anonymity, who attended Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting chaired by Defence minister Rajnath Singh, said that there was a suggestion that air travel may be started on May 15.
Another Minister told HT that there was a suggestion to run special trains to ferry stranded migrants. “It could be a non-stop train from Thiruvananthapuram to Bhubaneswar for example,” the minister said.
On Saturday, Rajnath Singh chaired a meeting of a Group of Ministers (GoM) at his residence to discuss "ways to mitigate the hardships faced by the people and the role ministries can play in providing relief to people".
The meeting was attended by Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani and Dharmendra Pradhan. Also in attendance were Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hardeep Puri, Pralhad Joshi, G Kishan Reddy and Ram Vilas Paswan.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 19, 2020 12:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).