Last Updated : Jun 30, 2020 01:59 PM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com

West Bengal asks Centre to stop trains, flights from five states with high COVID-19 cases

Flights from other states can be allowed once a week, said Mamata Banerjee

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The West Bengal government has requested the Centre to stop sending trains and domestic flights from five states, having a large number of COVID-19 cases in India, reported Hindustan Times.

West Bengal has registered a total of 17,907 COVID-19 cases and 653 deaths so far, according to the health ministry data. With these numbers, the Mamata Banerjee-led state has become the sixth-worst COVID-19 affected state in India, following Maharashtra (1,69,883), Tamil Nadu (86,224), Delhi (85,161), Gujarat (31,938) and Uttar Pradesh (22,828).

Addressing a press conference on June 29, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the chief secretary had written to stop train service to the state five states with immediate effect “at least for some time now”, said the report.

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Although the chief minister did not name the states, a senior official told said as per the report that the states are Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

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Earlier, the state had sent migrant labourers who returned from these states to institutional quarantine, said the report.

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The state has also urged the central government to stop sending domestic flights from these five states, as per the report.

However, flights from other states can be allowed once a week, Banerjee was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the state government has urged the Kolkata Metro authorities to resume operations in a “limited manner” at the earliest, said Banerjee.

"We are requesting the metro authorities to resume services as early as possible. I know the manner in which they are operating suburban trains in Mumbai (only for people in the essential services),” she said.

The Kolkata Metro Railway authorities are trying to develop a mobile application to help people in the emergency services to commute.

"If they resume operations in this manner, I think that too will help one-fourth of the city's commuters. Those who are travelling by buses now will be able to take the metro, giving opportunities to others to avail bus services. We have requested them to do it as quickly as possible," she said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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First Published on Jun 30, 2020 01:59 pm