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Uttarakhand Unlock 5.0: Interstate bus services resumes after six months

The Uttarakhand state government has given permission to begin inter-state bus operations in the state, starting today. While doing so, the government has made clear that passengers will be accommodated according to the allowed capacity. Mr Om Prakash, Uttarakhand’s Chief Secretary issued the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the movement of inter-state and intra-state bus services. The order read, “The UTC will be allowed to run inter-state buses only after establishing coordination with the transport corporations of other states. They will have to strictly follow the Covid-19 guidelines during the operation of bus services including mandatory wearing of masks by bus staffers and passengers along with thermal screening.” The SOP mentions: 1) Every public vehicle needs to be properly sanitisatised before and after the journey, else it won’t be allowed to operate. 2) No consumption of tobacco, pan, and cigarettes on the buses. 3) Traveling while standing won’t be permitted. 4) All the passengers, conductors and drivers need to wear face masks throughout the journey. 5) Every passenger must install Aarogya Setu app on their mobile phones. The order also mentions that the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) will be allowed to operate only 100 trips each day (to and from) in the first phase. The bus fares will be decided by the State Transport Authority. Not only this, the government has also ended the order of filling 50 per cent passengers in buses and increasing the fare. The bus services in the state have resumed nearly after six months. On Wednesday, a large number of people were seen at the Dehradun and Haridwar bus station. The buses going to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Kumaon were reported to be full with passengers. Till now, the state government had banned transportation services to other states given the rise in the number of Coronavirus patients. Owing to the same, people from other states were facing a lot of inconvenience. From registering on the government portal and getting COVID-19 negative reports, there were several strict rules and regulations to enter the state. But now, as India enters Unlock 5 phase, the state government has allowed inter-state operations. Uttarakhand Transport Corporation has also allowed taxis, cabs, auto-rickshaws, auto-Vikram, e-rickshaws to operate on inter-district and inter-state routes in accordance with the prescribed capacity.

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Unlock 5: Hotels, bars, food courts, restaurants allowed to reopen in Maharashtra

The Maharashtra Government on Wednesday extended coronavirus-induced lockdown till October 31, but also said that hotels, restaurants and bars will be allowed to operate from October 5 with restricted capacity. Hotels, food courts, restaurants and bars can operate from October 5 with capacity not exceeding 50 percent or as prescribed by local authorities. A separate Standard Operating Procedure will be issued by the tourism department for precautions to be taken while operating these establishments, an official release said. All the trains originating and ending the journey within the state will be restarted with immediate effect subject to health protocols for COVID-19, the latest guidelines said. All industrial and manufacturing units producing non- essential items will be allowed to operate in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The Railways will increase the frequency of local trains in the MMR. Local trains in Pune region will restart with protocols and procedures adopted in the MMR. Dabbawallahs of tiffin carriers in MMR will be allowed to travel by local trains after procuring QR code passes from the Mumbai police commissioner's office. There shall be free movement of oxygen carrying vehicles within and out of the state without any restrictions of time. Schools, colleges and other educational and coaching institutions will remained closed. Cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theaters in malls and market places, auditoriums, assembly halls will continue to remain closed. Social, political,sports, entertainment, academic, cultural and religious events and other large congregations will remain prohibited, the guidelines said.

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You can now travel to Bhutan; India’s travel bubble now extends to 15 countries

You can now travel to Bhutan and Kenya as India has signed travel bubble arrangements with these countries too. Air bubbles between India and Kenya, and India and Bhutan will now become operational, with national carriers of all the three nations restoring commercial passenger services to facilitate travel of people. Therefore, Indians will now be able to take special international passenger flights to and from these countries along with 13 other nations, with which such arrangements are already in place. Therefore, India now has air bubble arrangement with 15 countries. Until September 17, Bahrain, Afghanistan, France, Canada, Iraq, Germany, Japan, the Maldives, Qatar, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States were in the list. Further, under a bi-lateral air bubble pact, airlines of both the countries are allowed to operate international flights with certain restrictions. Elaborating more regarding such arrangements, India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation described air bubbles as air travel arrangements or transport bubbles, which are temporary arrangements reached between two countries with the aim of restoring commercial passenger services between them when regular international flights are suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic. They are reciprocal in nature, meaning airlines from both countries enjoy similar benefits. Referring to Kenya and Bhutan, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted that in order to further boost bi-lateral international air connectivity, air bubble arrangements are now in place with Kenya and Bhutan. He alerted stranded Indians in these countries to take note.

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Hong Kong lifts bar, Air India to operate Delhi-Hong Kong flight on October 4

After being temporarily banned by the Hong Kong government in the second half of September, Air India will fly to Hong Kong from New Delhi on October 4. The Hong Kong government on September 20 barred Air India from flying as passengers aboard were found to be Covid-19 positive. A New Delhi-Hong Kong flight scheduled on September 21 was cancelled. The embargo on Air India flights is till October 3. Issuing a statement, Air India has informed that those who were scheduled to fly from New Delhi to Hong Kong on September 21 can travel by the October 4 flight. “Passengers holding confirmed booking on cancelled flight of 21st Sep ‘20, are requested to contact the booking offices and call centre till 1700hrs of 2nd October for booking of tickets,” Air India tweeted. Booking for the remaining seats will open on October 2 at 6pm. “Booking for remaining seats on this flight will open on 2nd October ‘20 at 1800 hrs on Air India website, Booking Offices and Call Centre,” Air India tweeted. Air India passenger flights were barred from landing in Hong Kong between August 18 and August 31 after 14 passengers on its Delhi-Hong Kong flight of August 14 tested positive for COVID-19 post-arrival.

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Now open: Air India bookings for Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bahrain

In major news, Air India Express has started taking bookings for Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Bahrain. It has to be noted that these flights are in addition to the flights that have been already announced by Air India. Also, now travellers can book their air tickets via the official website of the national carrier, call centre, and office. Tickets can also be purchased from travel agents from now on. Before this, India's national carrier had announced a few additional flights to Singapore under the Vande Bharat Mission; later, international flights to and from the country were suspended till September 30 by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) under Unlock 4. The DGCA in a statement said, "The competent authority has further extended the suspension on the scheduled international commercial passenger services to/from India up to 2359 hours IST of 30th September. However, this restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA." As per the new announcement, the government will continue operating flights under established travel bubbles with the UK, the US, the Maldives, Japan, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Germany, France, Iraq, Canada, and Nigeria. Very soon, India will announce more bi-lateral air bubbles. Recently, the government signed a ‘transport bubble’ agreement with Kuwait to uplift stranded passengers both to/from India. More such arrangements are likely to be launched for the ease of passengers from different countries in the world.

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Assam relaxes quarantine rules for air passengers; passengers to isolate for a day if tested negative

The Assam state government has announced major relaxations in its quarantine rule for air travellers entering the region from outside the state. Elaborating more on this, Assam's Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that anyone, who either has a COVID negative certificate or has a discharge certificate with them from the hospital and have been cured of the virus, would no longer be required to undergo any quarantine on arrival or test. He stated that recovered COVID patients will now no longer need to undergo further testing or quarantine on arrival in Assam. He added that COVID negative passengers would also no longer need to undergo 10 days of quarantine, and that this decision was taken on the basis of scientific evidence, he added. The Chief Minister also mentioned that Assam is the first state in the country to introduce it; this will, however, not be applicable to those who have temperature and other symptoms. While talking to the media personnel, he mentioned that paid RT-PCR tests have also been opened up, the results of which would come within 24 hours. A mobile app, named Visitassam, has also been developed by the Assam government to facilitate air passengers to download forms, fill it up, and show it at the airports, which would help them avoid the delay in completing formalities for COVID-19 tests. The said app would also ensure that people maintain proper social distancing. Air passengers, on their arrival, will be required to stay in quarantine for just a day. They can then undergo paid RT-PCR tests, wherein the results will be declared in 24 hours. Also, known as the Tatkal RT-PCR test, one can get it done by paying INR 2200 and get results within 24 hours. Earlier, air travellers staying in Assam beyond the period of 72 hours had to undergo a rapid antigen test and a mandatory quarantine until the test results arrived.

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