In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, a 21-day lockdown has been imposed in the country. This means that all the shops and services barring the ones that come under the category of essential goods and services have been directed to shut. Essential services have been classified as media, those working in healthcare, banks and security.
Since the lockdown in place, there is no public transport available and these people had to pay extra money to reach their workplaces. To avoid overcharging at this time, these people had appealed to the state government to make the public transport free for the time being. Accordingly, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has allowed free transport for the employees working in essential services.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has provided ₹2 crores to ST Corporation to compensate for the losses incurred by offering free transport for those engaged in providing essential service. The employees can avail the services by displaying their identity card. The service is expected to benefit employees living in areas outside Mumbai, i.e. Virar, Nalasopara, Kalyan, Vashi, Panvel.
The services can be availed by:
The action plan, according to a circular, is as follows:
MSRTC is providing services on the following routes: