Assam: Only 50% City Buses to Run in Guwahati amid Corona Crisis

Guwahati, March 22, 2020:

As India is taking partial lockdown measures to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus or COVID-19, Guwahati Transport Authority, Assam, has announced that all the city bus services will be at only 50% strength, starting from Sunday's 'Janata Curfew'.

The City Transport Authority has suspended the many of the buses in a bid to check if Guwahati is prepared to deal with home quarantine, if imposed. All the city bus services have been suspended from March 22 to March 24, 2020, the Guwahati Transport Authority has informed.

Further, all the shops across Assam will remain closed on Monday, the day after the nation-wide Janata Curfew. It needs mention here that on March 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a self-imposed lockdown for 14 hours on Sunday. The whole country has followed the Janata Curfew. Minimum movements have been seen in Guwahati, with only a number of pharmacies open for emergency medical purpose.

ALSO READ: Update: Suspected COVID-19 Case of 4-Yr-Old in Assam's Jorhat Tests NEGATIVE

In a bid to prevent COVID-19 outbreak in the state, the Assam Transport Department has also taken a slew of measures and is constantly monitoring the situation in the field.

A high level meeting was taken by Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary with concerned officials of the departments and all transport associates and transport bodies to sensitize about Coronavirus. He discussed at length with these stakeholders about the precautionary measures to be taken in the public transport vehicle, bus terminus, bus stand, taxi stand, ferry terminals etc. in order to prevent the outbreak of the disease.

As instructed, the District Transport Officers (DTOs) are carrying out sanitization activities on public transport vehicles across Assam. Special cleanliness drives have been undertaken at ASTC bus stand, bus terminus and other transport vehicle stand. Sanitization facilities have been provided for entry point of the office of the Commissioner of Transport and in all DTO offices of the State for the general public coming to the office. Display of public health measures like banners, posters, hoardings have been put up in transport offices, bus terminus and taxi stand.

ALSO READ: Mizoram Orders Partial Lockdown till March 29 amid Corona Crisis

Extending support to the Prime Minister’s call for Janata Curfew on March 22, ASTC buses, IWT ferries and private vehicles have also been suspended. Since, Umananda Temple has been closed for visitors, ferry services to the temple has also been suspended by IWT.

Similarly, as Kamakhya Temple has also been shut down, ASTC buses to Kamakhya have been suspended temporarily.

The Assam Transport Department has constituted five teams at the state level to monitor the compliance of instructions to handle Corona Virus. The teams are ensuring that the instructions are being complied with by the concerned agencies, associations, stakeholders, and at ferry ghats, bus stands, ISBT- Betkuchi, Uber, Ola, Rapido services, auto/e-rickshaw stands etc. The Transport Department is working closely with the passengers for enforcing precautionary measures to contain the outbreak of COVID-19.

It may be mentioned here that India has recorded a total of 324 coronavirus cases. Maharashtra has topped the list, with 60 cases, followed by Kerala with 45 cases, Rajasthan 22, Uttar Pradesh 24, Delhi 28, Haryana 3, Himachal 2, Karnataka 20, Punjab 13, Telengana 10, Ladakh 13, West Bengal 4, Uttarakhand 3, Tamil Nadu 4, Puducherry 1, Odisha 2, MP 4, Gujarat 14.

Two deaths have been reported from Maharashtra. A fresh case of a 65-year-old has been reported on Sunday morning, taking the death toll in India to six (including one foreigner).

Support Inside Northeast (InsideNE), an independent media platform that focuses on Citizen-centric stories from Northeast India that are surprising, inspiring, cinematic and emotionally relevant.