Coronavirus outbreak in India: Amid the rising number of Coronavirus cases across the country, the Telangana government has decided to undertake various cleanliness measures, including a campaign for promoting cleanliness in public transport. As an important measure to prevent the spread of the novel Coronavirus, the Hyderabad Metro Rail Corporation has sprayed disinfectants at the Hyderabad Metro stations and inside the metro coaches. This comes as a crucial measure to eradicate the spread of infections, especially in crowded public areas such as metro stations and coaches. The Telangana government decided to take these steps after a 24-year old software professional from the same state tested positive for Coronavirus.
K T Rama Rao, Telangana Municipal Administration Minister was quoted in a PTI report saying that he had requested the Hyderabad Metro Rail Corporation and Puvvada Ajay Kumar, state transport minister to undertake the cleanliness measures inside the Hyderabad Metro coaches and the state run Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) buses. To ensure passengers’ safety, the Hyderabad Metro Rail has initiated various protective measures to prevent the spread of the virus in the state.
The Hyderabad Metro employees and staff members have also been made aware of the preventive steps which are supposed to be taken, including the maintenance of hand hygiene and seeking medical help during sickness. As part of the sanitization and disinfectant process, the Hyderabad Metro stations, trains, and the touch surface areas like escalators as well as hand rails will be cleaned with soap and detergents after the official operational hours. According to the report, the announcements for the passengers would be made soon. Till now, the cleanliness process in the Hyderabad Metro has not had any impact on the metro ridership.
Meanwhile, recently, the Hyderabad Metro network’s new corridor JBS-MGBS was inaugurated and flagged off for passenger operations, taking the entire network of the Hyderabad Metro to 69 km. The new corridor has opened a total of nine new metro stations, bringing seamless connectivity for commuters in areas such as JBS, MG Bus station, Musheerabad and others, with shorter travel time.