Covid-19: Delhi Metro services to remain closed for commuters till May 17

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Friday announced that the Delhi metro services will remain closed for the commuters till May 17 in light of the extension of coronavirus lockdown. DMRC also said that their helpline services phone number 155370 will also not be available.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Friday announced that the Delhi metro services will remain closed for the commuters till May 17 in light of the extension of the coronavirus lockdown issued by the Centre. In order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown by another two weeks.

The helpline services, 155370, of the DMRC will also not be available during this period. The public can reach out to the DMRC for help at [email protected].

As per the latest notification, the third phase of lockdown will remain enforced until May 17. The Home Ministry made the announcement today as lockdown 2.0 was coming to an end on May 3.

The government took the decision after a comprehensive review, and in view of the lockdown measures have led to significant gains in the COVID-19 situation in the country. The Union Home Ministry issued an order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, to further extend the lockdown for a further period of two weeks starting May 4.

The DMRC took to micro-blogging platform, Twitter, making the announcement. It said, “In light of the extension of lockdown issued by the government, Metro services will remain closed for commuters till 17th May. Our helpline services 155370 shall also not be available. You may reach us at [email protected].”

The MHA has also issued specific guidelines to regulate different economic activities during this period, based on the risk profiling of the districts of the country into Red (hotspot), Green and Orange Zones.

The guidelines have permitted considerable relaxation in the districts falling in the Green and Orange zones.

* The criteria for identification of districts as Red, Green and Orange Zones have been spelt out in detail in the letter dated April 30, 2020, issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

* The Green zone will be districts with either zero confirmed cases till date; or, no confirmed case in the last 21 days. 

* The classification of districts as Red zone will take into account the total number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, the extent of testing and surveillance feedback from the districts.

* Those districts, which are neither defined as Red nor Green, shall be classified as Orange zones. The classification of districts into Red, Green and Orange Zones will be shared by MoHFW with the States and Union Territories (UTs) on a weekly basis, or earlier, as required.

* While States and UTs can include additional districts as Red and Orange Zones, they may not lower the classification of a district included by MoHFW in the list of Red or Orange Zones.

Under the new guidelines, a limited number of activities will remain prohibited throughout the country, irrespective of the zone. These include travel by air, rail, metro and inter-State movement by road; running of schools, colleges, and other educational and training/ coaching institutions; hospitality services, including hotels and restaurants; places of large public gatherings, such as cinema halls, malls, gymnasiums, sports complexes etc; social, political, cultural and other kinds of gatherings; and, religious places/ places of worship for the public.

In Red zones and outside containment zones, certain activities including plying of cycle rickshaws and auto-rickshaws, taxis and cab aggregators, intra-district and inter-district plying of buses and barber shops, spas and salons will be prohibited in addition to those prohibited throughout India. However, movement of persons by air, rail and road is allowed for select purposes, and for purposes as permitted by MHA.

Earlier on March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a 21-day countrywide lockdown for the first time to break the chain of transmission of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The restriction was extended on April 14 for another 17 days. The current lockdown 2.0 is ending on May 3.