Odisha urges Railways to cancel passenger trains from Chhattisgarh

Bhubaneswar: As there has been an upsurge in Covid cases in some parts of the country, the Odisha government today requested the Indian Railways to cancel all passenger trains coming from Chhattisgarh to Odisha from April 10 until further advice.

Odisha Chief Secretary SC Mahapatra in a letter to Railway Board Chairman Suneet Sharma stated passenger trains including local and mail/express, coming from Chhattisgarh to Odisha may be cancelled with effect from April 10, 2021, till further advice. The Indian Railways is requested to issue instructions to comply with the above requirement, it read.

The Odisha Chief Secretary further stated the Indian railways must ensure that all passengers travelling to Odisha, from anywhere by train, must have an RT-PCR negative test report of maximum 72 hours before the start of Journey or a second dose vaccination certificate. This restriction will come into force from the boarding date of April 10, 2021.

It also mentioned even though the situation in Odisha is not alarming, the cross border movements of people is impacting the Covid situation adversely in almost all border districts of Odisha.

There has been a significant surge in Covid 19 cases in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh states.