Services in Mumbai’s local trains will soon be allowed for journalists in the city as per the State Relief and Rehabilitation Minister, Vijay Wadettiwar. Speaking to a group of reporters, Wadettiwar said that a proposal has been sent to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and that it will be passed by the State Cabinet within two days.
Currently, local trains in Mumbai are only accessible only to essential workers that are employed by either the State or Central Government. Not too long ago, the State allowed journalists with proper accreditation to take local trains with the help of a custom QR code.
This decision by the State will allow the travel of all journalists in the city for newsgathering, saving a lot of time as well as money. Given that journalists remain at the frontlines to provide updates on the city, this is a good call by the State to accommodate their easier movement across key points of Mumbai.
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The halting of train services during the lockdown in Mumbai has led to massive losses to the railways. However, the authorities subsequently allowed State and Central Govt staff to travel using a special QR code pass. There were some concerns about the scale of the passes to be generated, and its implementation, though it has functioned pretty efficiently so far.
Though this news is sure to make lives easier for journalists, common citizens still have no estimate of when they can travel by local trains again. Given that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, the government is understandably taking a wait and watch approach toward opening up the railways for the public.
Also read - Vijay Vadettiwar Issues Statement Over Resuming Mumbai Local Trains
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