In the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak in India, Government authorities are working around the clock to mitigate the impact of the deadly virus. The nationwide lockdown was eased gradually on May 19th after a long gap of 2 months in order to allow the resumption of economic activities. Delhi too has relaxed restrictions for its citizens but is enforcing a series of precautionary measures. Coronavirus Pandemic had affected the National Capital severely with 13,418 confirmed COVID-19 cases and a death toll reaching 261 so far. With no cure to the pandemic available as of now, Delhi Government's priority is of containing the virus.
The Delhi Transport Department is planning to start disinfection services for public and private vehicles at a minimal cost at all fuel stations in the city, a senior Department official said to a wire agency. The government is planning to enforce compulsory disinfection of public buses and para-transit vehicles like taxis and auto-rickshaws after each trip to avoid transmission of the deadly virus. The public transport resumed on May 19th after nearly two months of shutdown. The restriction on private vehicles was lifted by the Delhi Government as per the conditions of Lockdown 4.0.
With the lifting of restrictions, the number of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster buses and their ridership has increased significantly according to the officer quoted by media outlets. While 2,259 DTC and cluster buses were on the road on May 19, the number rose to 3,535 on May 20 and to 3,983 on May 21, he said.
DTC and Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System (DIMTS) has around 6,348 buses under its wing. Some of the buses are often hired by the different Government departments like police, revenue and health. The Revenue Department had hired 1452 buses on May 21 while Police and health departments had hired over 700 plus buses.
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