WB: Hundreds head to native places, face transport crunch

| | Kolkata
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WB: Hundreds head to native places, face transport crunch

Wednesday, 03 June 2020 | PNS | Kolkata

In a grim reminder of lakhs of migrant workers walking back to their homes post Lockdown 1.0, hundred of commuters in Kolkata walked towards their respective destinations on the second day of unlock 1.0 cursing the unavailability of public transport which had been plying on the city streets with limited number of passengers so as to maintain social distancing norms.

Thousands of daily commuters remained stranded on the streets anxiously waiting for vacant buses to board. Subsequent to the long wait irritated commuters either forced their entry inside the buses overcrowding them or walked back to their destinations, sources said.  Kolkata had entered the phase one of “Unlock – 1” on June 1 and the city was likely to open up fully with the exception of the law courts and the educational institutions from June 8. “I have been standing here for the past 2 hours. In between, three buses came and went but they are nor picking up more than 20 people so what do we do? Why did the Government open up like this?” asked Amiyo Haldar at Lake Town.

Down South at Ruby crossing hundreds of people vainly chased buses filled chock-a-block. When asked to explain the situation a helpless conductor said “I have been asking people not to board but they would not listen. We are at great risk of getting the disease. Who will look after our family if we die?”

At Esplanade Deepa Manna an IT consultant said, “the unlock 1.0 is as sudden as lockdown 1.0. How will we maintain social distancing norms?”

With the State Government refusing the hike bus fares (from Rs 7-Rs 10 regime to Rs 20-Rs 30 regime) as demanded by the private operators they have refused to offer services. “The Government wants us to take 20 people or for that matter they want us to take only sitting passengers but how will we run the bus if we do not take standing passengers,” asked Sadhan Pal a leader of the bus operatorsassociation demanding corona insurance for the drivers and conductors.

Meanwhile, the Transport Department on Tuesday set up a regulatorycommittee to discuss any possible hike of bus fares. “We hope buseswill ply normally from June 8 when the city opens up fully,” said oneof the operators.

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