Haryana becomes first state to ply intra-state buses amidst lockdown

Haryana became the first state to resume operation of public transport by starting to ply intra-state buses on Friday (May 15).

The decision has been taken to help facilitate movement of people stranded in different parts of the state due to the lockdown, an official said on Thursday (May 14).

The passengers need to get an online ticket and the buses will not commute in areas heavily infected with COVID-19.

A lot of people in the state were stranded in different districts with no means to travel and therefore we decided to start inter-district bus services, NDTV quoted Haryana police chief Manoj Yadav as saying.

The buses are said to operate from the state transport bus stands to the scheduled bus stands. No passengers will be allowed to board or disembark the bus during the journey.

“Only non-air conditioned buses are running and to ensure social distancing in a bus with a capacity of 52 people, we are only allowing 30 passengers to travel,” a senior functionary said.

Bus services were disabled earlier when Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced a lockdown in the state on March 23.

Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar has approved the issue of Haryana consolidated revised guidelines for easing of #lockdown in the State with immediate effect: Chief Minister's Office

— ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2020

Haryana currently has 854 confirmed COVID cases, whilst easing the lockdown restrictions in the state and allowing several industries in the state to operate.