Coronavirus: Aarogya Setu app must to ride Namma Metro in Bengaluru?

The Aarogya Setu app will be made mandatory for all passengers who seek to travel by Namma Metro, as per a draft standard operating procedure (SoP) charted out by BMRCL to resume metro operations.

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The draft SoP, prepared over the last two months, has strict measures for both employees and passengers. Sources in BMRCL said all metro staffers in operations division were being trained to work in the "new normal" condition.

"Regular drills are being conducted to communicate the message that they have to operate in a situation that is different from pre-pandemic days," the source said.

Restrictions for passengers

For all passengers seeking to travel by metro, the Aarogya Setu app will be a must. "Security shall check the availability of ‘Aarogya Setu’ app on mobile of each passenger. A passenger shall not be allowed in its absence," the draft stated.

Passengers whose temperature is above 38 degrees Celsius, will not be allowed to enter the station. Similarly, those with symptoms of sneezing, cough, breathlessness will not be allowed to travel and advised to get a medical checkup.

Only 346 persons will be allowed to board the train with the train operating staff being tasked to take a total number of train and inform the control room. "If the crowd is unmanageable, the stoppage at next crowded station shall be skipped," the draft says.

Officials were still not clear on the commencement on June 1 as they said that instructions were awaited from the Union government, which had barred all metro operations till June 30 in its previous order.

"We are making preparations to ensure that if and when we resume operations, the protocols of social distancing and other rules issued by the governments are followed," said B L Yashwant Chavan, the spokesperson for Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).

Chavan, however, refused to comment on the SoP.