With the last day to procure the QR passes ending on July 30, the Maharashtra government has decided on an extension in the deadline. According to sources, the deadline is likely to be extended to August 10.
This came after an enormous number of essential workers have been left complaining that they were unable to receive the passes as the applications were still pending with the Mumbai police and the related authorities with confusion regarding the exact date of the implementation.
The local trains which resumed operations on June 15 started ferrying people working in the essential services in the view of the coronavirus. Passes based on the QR code is to be issued by the government in order to identify the employees in essential services.
However, there has been a delay by the state government in gathering the information of the employees. Therefore, travel is currently being offered without a Q-R code. Even though the deadline to get the QR code has been extended to August 10, it will not be possible to travel without QR code after August 10.
This QR code pass will be mandatory for all essential passengers on the Central Railway, Harbour Railway and the Western Railway. The state government has started collecting information with regards to workplaces, office hours and other details of the essential staff. However, due to lack of manpower, this work has not been completed swiftly and efficiently. Therefore, the Central Railways and Western Railways have permitted entry to the railway station on the basis of an identity card till the new pass can be obtained.
Meanwhile, on July 22, several commuters agitated at the Nalasopara ST (state transport bus) stand and got down onto the train tracks at the station demanding that they should be allowed to travel in the local trains. This incident took place after there the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRT) buses did not arrive at the bus stop. Every day, nearly 100 to 150 buses leave the Nalasopara ST bus stand for people working in non-essential sectors.