India shuts trains, metro, inter-state bus services till 31 March 2020

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): In a high-level meeting conducted today with chief secretaries of all states and the cabinet secretary and the principal secretary to the prime minister of India, the central government has decided to suspend all public transport services across the country till March 31, 2020. Apart from this, the government has also decided to completely shut down 75 districts across the country where coronavirus cases have been reported, sources said today. The public transport services including Indian Railways, Metro Railways, Inter-state Bus Services will be completely closed across the country till March 31. In view of the spreading of the deadly COVID-19 (Corona Virus), it was decided that there is an urgent need to extend the restrictions on the movement of non-essential public transport, including inter-state transport buses till March 31, said an official from Union Home Ministry, ET reported. However, goods trains will be operated as usual with extra precautions. The government of the various states will issue separate orders allowing only essential services to operate in about 75 districts with confirmed COVID-19 cases or casualties, sources said. The 75 districts where lockdown was announced are from states that include Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. It was noted that all metro rail authorities including suburban rail services have closed services on one day 'Janta Curfew' called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The people have shown an overwhelming and spontaneous response to the Prime Minister's appeal. Despite extending appropriate measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by transport operators across the country, no positive result seen. In a single day, over 100 new cases reported in the various districts of India. A total of 8 cases of deaths also reported by the medical authorities. The total number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 345 on Sunday.