The commuters organisation of the Mumbai local have threatened the Maharashtra government to stage a protest if they do not adhere to their demands of allowing public access to the local trains. The state government has assured the people that they will soon take a decision on this.
Owing to the COVID-19 spread and lockdown the state had only allowed government officials and essentials services workers to commute through the local trains.
The commuters have been appealing to the state government for many days now, the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh (MRPS) said that the association will hold demonstrations and express displeasure by wearing black bands. “We have been filing appeals, day in and day out, people have been suffering in bus queues, but the government is not even discussing the subject, which is gross ignorance. Mumbaikars will not take this lying down and we will express the displeasure by wearing black bands,” said Madhu Kotian, President of Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh
He further added that the association will discuss this with other city-based organisations and try to get support on the matter.
Responding to MRPS, Mumbai Civic officials said there were plans to relax restrictions in local trains for the fully vaccinated passengers, but the final decision, however, will be taken by the Uddhav Thackeray-led state government.
It must be noted that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is the nodal civic authority for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) region to make decisions on Mumbai Local Trains.
