KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that local trains would not be allowed to ply till the state government manages to vaccinate 50% of the rural population which commutes to Kolkata from adjoining districts using suburban train services.
She said that though people are asked to travel in a safe way, often they are found to huddle in local trains, so the service could not be resumed.
Thus the embargo on the local train will continue till August 30, the CM said. She said that in the urban areas at least one dose had been given to 75% of the population. She said that keeping in mind the proposed third wave the state government was in favour of the restrictions.
However she relaxed the night restrictions, as from now the night restrictions would be between 11 pm and 5 am. The CM hoped that this will help to do business in a better way. She also relaxed norms for theatres and auditoriums with 50% sitting capacity that can operate now.
She said that though Bengal had a capacity to inoculate 11 lakh people daily, barely 3.5 lakh to 4 lakh people were vaccinated daily due to the low supply of vaccines from the Centre. So, due to the slow vaccination, the Bengal government on Thursday extended restrictions till August 30 with increased relaxations.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/no-local-trains-in-west-bengal-till-august-30/articleshow/85272725.cms
