Platform Ticket fare hiked to avoid crowd at railway stations

March 19: Amid rising concern for coronavirus outbreak, Indian government has adopted several measures to curb its further spread throughout the country. ‘Isolation’ at this moment appears to be the major measure suggested both by the union and state governments. Passengers are now screened at all the railway stations along with the airports and bus terminus.

North East Frontier Railway’s Lumding Division has increased platform ticket fare so as to avoid extra crowd at railway stations. Platform Ticket fare at Silchar Railway station was hiked to Rs. 50 rupees whereas at Badarpur, Karimganj and Agartala stations the new revised rate for Platform Ticket was Rs. 30.

In order to contain the spread of COVID-19 virus and to minimise the travel related risks to elderly citizens, Indian Railways has taken steps to discourage senior citizens from undertaking non essential journeys by removing special incentives which presently exist for their travel. Indian Railways has done this by withdrawing concessional booking of tickets to senior citizens for Unreserved & Reserved segment form 00:00 hrs of 20th March till further advisory. This step has been taken to discourage them from making non essential journeys.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday made a fervent appeal to all Indians to stay indoors as much as possible to avoid getting infected by coronavirus, saying the world has never seen a danger as grave as this. He called for ‘Janata Curfew’ on 22 March, 2020 from 7 AM to 9 PM, saying no citizen, barring those in essential services, should get out of house.