Mumbai Local Trains | SabrangIndia

Communal posters found and removed in Borivali train after CJP intervenes

Fri, 27 May 2022 06:06:23 +0000

The Government Railway Police (GRP) deputed in Borivali in Mumbai’s northern suburbs have acted on a complaint by CJP and removed communal posters from a local train. On May 25, 2022 CJP shared on Twitter, a video of the poster we had received from a rights group, urging the GRP to act quickly.

A video sent by a Mumbai resident showed a train halted at Malad station that had two to four posters in Devnagri-script stuck on the coach windows. The posters read, “Wake Up Hindus! Section 30 should be removed so that schools can teach Ved, Upanishad, Gita, Ramayan and other scripts.”

A Borivali train at 10PM has posters stuck that says “jaago hindu jaago. Ab dhara 30 hataa deni chahiye” the video is taken from Malad station inside coach 5068C. Request @grpmumbai to take action against this communal hatred act. pic.twitter.com/eVpucf1ACo

— Citizens for Justice and Peace (@cjpindia) May 25, 2022

The video-maker called this an attempt to create a communal divide among people. “Trains are government transport when in reality people of all religions use this means of transport,” the person is heard saying.

By Wednesday evening, the posters were removed from the coach mentioned in the video.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Borivali GRP personnel have traced the coach and removed the said poster from the premises. pic.twitter.com/6qQIFfjQhJ

— GRP Mumbai (@grpmumbai) May 25, 2022

Borivali Railway’s Senior Police Inspector Anil Kadam told us, “We have removed all posters inside the train. While we could not check the entire train at the time, our officials will inspect nearby coaches again to check if any more posters have been pasted.”

Kadam further assured us that the issue will be raised with higher officials. According to the official, such communal posters have not been seen in trains before this. Recently, there have been communal tensions in Mumbai, especially after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) call for removing loudspeakers from mosques.

However, CJP along with many progressive rights groups in the city have been fighting against such divisive politics. In April, during Ramzan, CJP and like-minded groups organised many secular iftars where people of all religions came together to share a traditional meal and forge stronger bonds. CJP has also been spearheading a mohalla committee campaign to help build communal harmony at the neighbourhood level.

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Public buses continue of work bearing the brunt of the city

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 10:45:59 +0000

Angry Virar office-goers demand restart of Mumbai local trains

Jimit Rathod travels from Virar to Andheri every day using his own vehicle. He leaves his home by 10 AM and reaches his office at 1 PM, thus spending about 6-7 hours of his day in travel. When asked about public transport, Rathod said he considers State Transport (ST) buses his last option. Buses in Virar run at a low frequency of one or two buses per hour, he said. Moreover, the one time he had travelled by a public bus he estimated a crowd of 30-35 people inside the vehicle.

Rathod said traffic congestion was the biggest problem as far as road transport is concerned. Private vehicles had increased on the road during the lockdown.

When asked about traffic police, he said the number of personnel had dwindled in his opinion. For the last month, he had not seen any traffic personnel on the street although he travelled nearly every day to his office. Even so, he said he preferred to drive directly to his office rather than be dropped off by the bus at a common bus-stop.

Building on this notion, Professor Yatin Ingle who travels from Virar to Vile Parle once a week, said that commuting to work had become a question of finance. Railways, the lifeline of Mumbai, remain closed for civilians except essential service workers. Accordingly, civilians choose private vehicles over public transport in a bid to save time and energy. Ingle has no other option but to invest in private cars because he needs to reach his college on time.

“Nowadays, even Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 2,500 is not enough for a day’s travel,” he said.

Even private buses charge Rs. 500 for a one-way ticket to Mumbai. So, it becomes a question of paying more for less time or paying less and spending more time on the commute to work.

Ingle was not a part of the Virar protest on Monday where people demanded the reopening of trains. However, he said that he wouldn’t mind the start of trains as long as social distancing norms were adhered to.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a government official travels from Thane to South Mumbai by private car. Although a government official, the person – who wished to remain anonymous – preferred not to travel by train because the number of railway travellers had allegedly increased, which added to the anxiety of catching coronavirus.

So, citizens seemed to prefer private vehicles as less of a health hazard. However, BEST PRO Manoj Varade assured that, even before the lockdown was announced, all 27 BEST bus depots in Mumbai conducted health and hygiene awareness programmes in the first week of March. The public body also said they distributed masks, sanitisers, plastic screens and hand gloves among their employees. As a further precaution, they washed each of their buses after a trip was completed.

“Currently, we are running approximately 3,400 buses per day. If each bus makes 10 rides a day, we wash the bus 10 times,” said Varade.

Accordingly, he encouraged more people to travel by public buses. Before the lockdown announcements, BEST buses interacted with as many as 30 lakhs passengers. Once Railways were shut for civilians, even those passengers depended on public buses. Varade insisted that the BEST has enough personnel and infrastructure to bear the load of the city.

“We can’t just add buses. So, we appeal to people to wait for the next bus even if they do not reach on time. We also appeal to them not to abuse conductors and drivers who uphold social distancing norms,” he said.

He acknowledged that the huge number of private vehicles on the road interferes with the scheduled trips. Varade said that the organisation had been requesting the government for a dedicated lane that would be reserved for public transport and ambulances alone.

Despite Varade’s assurances, President of Bus For Us, Rohit Dhende argued that the combined strength of Mumbai and its suburban passengers would be too much even for BEST and ST buses combined. He said the strain would be too much for these buses that have been working since March 22.

Dhende pointed out that people as far as Dombivali, Thane, Borivali depended on trains. While buses could increase their frequency, they wouldn’t be able to increase its employees some of whom, he said, had contracted Covid-19.

Additionally, he said that nobody adhered to social distancing norms. As many as 100 people can be seen riding a public bus at times. This makes the situation particularly dangerous for bus drivers and conductors. Thus, he stressed that all employees, not just BEST workers, should be given protective gear as well as due monetary compensation.

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Mumbai local trains likely to be suspended after city’s first Covid-19 death

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 12:02:26 +0000

The Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra headed by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is currently mulling over a crucial decision on suspending Mumbai’s lifeline, its local train services, post the first death due to Corona Virus reported in the city, reported Business Insider.

At present, Maharashtra has 38 positive Covid-19 patients and the desperate measures of ensuring the safety of the public come after the passing away of a 64-year-old man with a travel history to Dubai passed away at Mumbai’s quarantine center, Kasturba Hospital, today.

As one of the ‘social distancing’ measures heavily recommended by the government to prevent and contain the spread of Covid-19, the matter regarding the complete suspension of local train services is currently under discussion at the state cabinet meeting in a bid to help stop the spread from going to Phase III from Phase II by any means necessary.

The local train services in India are sprawled across the Central, Harbour and Western Lines ferrying over 8.50 million commuters to their destinations serving the Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts.

However, it isn’t just the local trains the government is considering suspending, but also the Mumbai Metro and Mono Rail for a few days till the transmission of the virus is contained. The move could potentially paralyze Mumbai, the country’s financial capital.

Health Minister Rajesh Tope who apprised the public of the decision said, “There are options — like fumigating all train coaches, limiting the number of commuters to the seats available in each bogey to avoid crowding also being considered other than completely stopping the local train services.”

The Maharashtra government has set aside a Rs. 45 crore fund for tackling the corona virus pandemic. This fund is to be distributed among the Divisional Commissioners at Konkan and Pune and Rs. 5 crore each from the fund is set to be disbursed to Nagpur, Amravati, Aurangabad and Nashik. Apart from ensuring the supply of hygienic and nutritious food, it is to be used to maintain the facilities at the quarantine centers like television sets, indoor games and for the purchase of emergency medical equipment like ventilators.

The Maharashtra state government has postponed all upcoming local bodies and civic elections by three months and ordered the shutdown of academic and educational institutions, both in urban and rural areas.

The Public Health Minister who also conducted a private meeting with 20 companies from the medicine, banking, executive and corporate sectors said that these companies through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund will help provide masks, sanitizers, ventilators and isolation wards for those in need.

The Coronavirus has spread to 131 people in India and three people have lost their lives due it. World over, more than 7,000 people have died due to Covid-19. With quarantine and social distancing being seen as the only measures to contain the transmission of the virus before the vaccines come into play, it is to be seen if a bustling city like Mumbai is braced for a potential lockdown.

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