Full vaccination ‘mandatory’ to board Maharashtra’s local trains

The Maharashtra government, on Tuesday, issued an order that only fully-vaccinated people will be allowed to board local trains.

The State Chief Secretary, Sitaram Kunte, in an order, said that the mandatory requirement of being fully vaccinated to travel by local trains, specified by the State government, is extended to personnel of essential services as well as government personnel.

Also, the universal pass, which will be a compulsory requirement for travel, will henceforth be issued only to fully vaccinated citizens, irrespective of whether they belong to essential services or not.

“Furthermore, with regard to the issue of passes for train travel (local train and passenger trains), any kind of passes (monthly/ quarterly/ half early) are allowed to be issued to the commuters who fall within the definition of vaccinated person,” said the order.

At present, essential services such as medical services, telecom sector, gas supplies, water providers and government personnel, have been issued passes, irrespective of the vaccination status so that essential services are not affected.

“However, it has to be noted that a considerable amount of time has passed since the initiation of vaccination drive. Also, the drive has been conducted at a very rapid pace with adequate vaccines being available through public as well as private sector,” the order added.