In wake of complaints that some passengers do not wear masks properly while using the Namma Metro service, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) will now start levying fines to defaulters. The fine amount has been fixed at Rs 250 in line with the penalty imposed by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for the same offence.
Shankar AS Executive Director (Operation & Maintenance) said that other than security personnel, other department staff will also be nominated for this enforcement exercise. This comes at a time when Bengaluru and Karnataka is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases. For the first time in five months, the number of new cases crossed the 4,000 mark this week.
There were 26 new fatalities in Karnataka on Wednesday, including 18 in Bengaluru, two each in Kalaburagi and Tumakuru and one each in Chikkamagaluru, Kolar, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada, taking the state's death toll to 12,567.
A hotspot, Bengaluru registered 2,928 fresh cases on Tuesday, taking its tally to 4.34 lakh total positive cases since the onset of the pandemic. Of the 266 Covid patients in the intensive care units (ICUs) in Karnataka, 126 are in Bengaluru hospitals, 25 in Kalaburagi, 12 in Bidar and 11 each in Hassan and Mandya, while the rest are in the remaining 26 districts across the state.
COVID-19 regulations in Namma Metro
After the nationwide lockdown imposed in mid-March 2020, metro services in Bengaluru had started functioning at a reduced capacity on September 7, 2020. Since then, metro authorities have been issuing mask and physical distancing advisories to the public. Passengers are allowed entry to the platform only after thermal screening.
Like other metros of the country, they are also allowing only smart card users and not allowing sale of single ticket/ tokens.
To avoid crowding there has been a cap of passenger carrying capacity of each train. Currently only 20% of each coach is being utilised at a time.