Bengal extends Covid curbs till July 30, Metro to run on weekdays Bengal extends Covid curbs till July 30

MP | 15 July 2021 | Kolkata: Extending safety restrictions in view of the Covid pandemic till July 30, the Mamata Banerjee government announced a set of relaxations allowing Metro Railway services to operate five days a week with 50 percent seating capacity. 

Though people can avail of the Metro services on five working days from Monday to Friday, the suburban train services will continue to remain suspended. 

With the safety restrictions as per the previous guidelines set to continue till July 15, the Metro services will become available from July 16. 

Issuing a notification on Wednesday, the Bengal government stated "Metro Railway services shall operate five days a week with 50 percent seating capacity and shall remain suspended on Saturdays and Sundays". 

Both Metro authorities and local administration have been directed to ensure that commuters must use masks. Metro authorities also have to ensure proper and regular sanitisation of trains and maintenance of Covid norms. The Metro services remained suspended from May 15 due to the second wave of Covid. Only Maintenance Special Services were operational that had later increased to 104 (52 UP and 52 DN) from 90. The Maintenance Special Service will continue to remain available on Saturdays. 

With the state government's nod allowing resumption of the services, the Metro services will remain available from 8 am to 9 pm. A total of 192 services will be made available every weekday. 

Inter-district movement of both state-run and private buses, inland waterways services, trams, taxis, cabs and auto-rickshaws will continue to ply with passengers not more than 50 percent of the seating capacity at a time. 

At the same time, banks and offices of financial institutions will remain open for an hour more as the new timing would be from 10 am to 3 pm. 

Earlier, it was from 10 am to 2 pm. Though swimming pools will remain closed, they can be kept open from 6 am to 10 am for regular practice of state, national and international level swimmers. 

As per the new guidelines, all shops and markets (both essential and non-essential commodities) may remain open as per usual operational hours. As per the previous order, bazaars, haats and shops selling vegetables, fruits, groceries, milk, bread, meat, eggs and fish are allowed to remain open from 6 am to noon while all other shops are permitted to remain open from 11 am to 8 pm. 

Retail shops were allowed to operate from 11 am to 8 pm with 50 percent workforce and restricted entry of 50 percent customers of the total capacity at a time. The SEBI regulated and notified market entities have been allowed to remain open. 

Restrictions on all outdoor activities, apart from essential services, from 9 pm to 5 am will continue and no political, social, cultural, academic and entertainment-related congregations will be allowed. 

Cinema halls and spas will continue to remain closed. Parks will remain open from 6 am to 9 pm for morning walkers and those who exercise. This comes when the Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote to Chief Secretaries of all states, including Bengal, urging all district authorities to ensure proper implementation of Covid norms in crowded places like railway stations, bus terminuses and hill stations. 

The Union Home Ministry on Wednesday said blatant violations of COVID-19 norms have been observed in several parts of the country, including hill stations, and asked states and Union Territories to take action against officials responsible for ensuring compliance to laid down guidelines. 

In a letter to all states and UTs, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also said Covid-appropriate behaviour is not being adhered to in public transport and massive crowds are thronging marketplaces, violating social distancing norms. 

Bhalla emphasised the second wave of Covid is not yet over and there is no room for complacency and everyone must follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. He added that with the decline in the number of active cases, states and UTs have started reopening economic activities in a gradual manner but the process of relaxing restrictions should be carefully calibrated. 

With the surge in Covid-19 cases in the Hills, the district administration has issued an advisory that hotels and homestays will only allow guests with RT-PCR negative certificates (72 hours) or having taken both the vaccine doses.. 

(http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/bengal-extends-covid-curbs-till-july-30-metro-to-run-on-weekdays-446642?infinitescroll=1)