The Railways has issued new guidelines for travel on15 pairs of special trains from May 12, asking passengers tocarry their own food and linen and arrive at stations at least90 minutes before departure for health screening.
The Railways, which has announced resumption of alimited number of passenger services after a hiatus of around50 days due to the ongoing COVID-19 induced lockdown, had saidthe trains will be air-conditioned and will run onfull-capacity on the Rajdhani routes from Delhi to all majorcities.
Mohammed Asheel, executive director of thecharitable organisation--Kerala Social Security Mission--Tuesday said even the Centre itself had issued guidelinesadvising people to avoid the usage of AC unless it wasnecessary.
"Even the centre's guidelines clearly asks peoplenot to use AC much and in case they have to use it, theguidelines instruct to keep the temperature between 24and 30 degrees Celsius.
It also provides instructions on humidity," Asheeltold .
"Even if we have arranged everything in the coachesincluding the temperature, the windows need to be opened atleast once in a while."
In flight travel, there is no other option due tovarious factors including air pressure in the cabin, and thetravel duration is less than three to four hours.
"But a journey in an AC compartment lasting 24 to 48hours where people can freely move is never advisable," Asheelsaid.
Kerala was among the first states in India to reportthe deadly virus infection, but it has also earned globalpraise for having effectively managed to contain the outbreakand ensure a high recovery rate compared to other regions.
On May 8, Kerala had declared that it had"flattened the curve",but hours later, the state detected morepositive COVID-19 cases among those who were airlifted by theCentre from other countries under its 'Vande Bharat' mission.
Fresh cases were also detected among those who hadreached Kerala from other states.
Earlier in the day, Asheel had tweeted that he wastensed about the air-conditioned travel.
"The trains starting run today are fully air-conditioned !By the time they reach their destination, manywill get the covid 19 infection if someone has it....
Train starts today..bit tensed...to be honest," hetweeted.
He said when the government has cheaper and saferoptions to transport stranded people, arranging AC coacheswould be a mistake.
The trains would start their journey from Tuesdayevening.
Kerala Social Security Mission (KSSM), under theSocial Justice Department, extends service and support to thedestitute, poor, aged, children, women, chronically ill cancerpatients and other weaker sections of population.
It identifies, undertakes and implements socialsecurity projects for the weaker sections. RRT BNWELCOME BNWELCOME