Jan Shatabdi brings 443 to Chandigarh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 1

After a two-month lockdown, the arrival of Jan Shatabdi at the Chandigarh railway station this evening announced the renewal of passenger services.

Among 443 people who got off the train they had boarded from Delhi, one was diagnosed with high temperature. “I have come from Patna to Delhi and now Chandigarh,” he said. He was sent to the GMSH-16 for a detailed health examination in accordance with the standard operating procedures listed by the government.

The doctor on duty said: “Relevant tests will be done at the hospital to assess his medical condition.”

The railway station was unusually quiet with no coolies and not a single stall open for business and a battery of RPF and local police ensuring social distancing among passengers.

The train had stopover of eight minutes. A team of doctors and security guards at two ends of the platform screened the passengers.

UT Administration officials ensured that every traveller signed an undertaking of self-monitoring their health for 14 days. IFS Abdul Qayuam, nodal officer of passenger train operations, said officials completed the forms of passengers who could not read or write.

Savitri, a passenger who came from Dhanbad, said: “I had gone to visit my relatives in Dhanbad on Holi. As the lockdown was announced, I got stuck there.” She was travelling with her two children, youngest of them is two-year-old.

Megha, who visited her parents in Sector 41, here, said: “We reached the station in Delhi at 1 pm and the train left at 2:35 pm. While booking the ticket, we were asked for our Aadhaar card and travel details such as where we are going, our purpose of visit and the number of days we will be staying at the destination.”