BMC to decide on allowing general public in Mumbai local trains after monitoring Christmas, New Year festivities

Mumbai: A recommendation about permitting the general public to travel by local trains in Mumbai will be made only after monitoring the situation during Christmas and New Year revelry, Mumbai municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said on Thursday. He also warned that if people continued to gather in defiance of coronavirus restrictions, the government will be forced to impose a night curfew in the city. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will recommend to the government that railway services resume for all only after monitoring the situation during Christmas and New year celebrations, he told reporters. “Depending on the situation during Christmas and New Year’s Eve, we can take a decision about restarting local trains,” he said. Currently, only certain categories of people, including those working for essential services, are allowed to travel by local trains. He had written to the Maharashtra government seeking a night curfew after seeing that some night clubs were operating overnight, Chahal said. Last week, BMC teams raided two night clubs where a large number of people had gathered without wearing proper masks, the commissioner said, adding that FIRs were registered against these clubs. “The government is not in favour of imposing a night curfew because it creates panic among people. Hence it has decided to wait and watch till 25 December,” Chahal said. The daily number of new COVID-19 cases in the city has gone down and is in the range of 600-800 after Diwali, Chahal said, adding that the number of asymptomatic patients was high among new cases. He was speaking to the media after meeting actor Anupam Kher at the BMC headquarters. Kher gifted him a copy of his book ‘Your Best Day is Today’. The book, based on the actor’s experiences during lockdown, also has a chapter about the BMC’s efforts to tackle the pandemic.