First Covid-19 death reported in BMTC, officials worry about resuming service

Covid-19 claimed its first victim in the BMTC as a woman staffer, who tested positive for the disease, died recently.

The rising number of cases has made the corporation worry about resuming service after the lockdown.

The victim, a 50-year-old woman, was an assistant, who worked in the head office of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). She is suspected to have contracted the disease from her husband (not a BMTC employee), who died about a week before her.

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Senior officials in the corporation noted that the condition of the city's Covid scenario had been deteriorating in the run-up to the lockdown.

"Our employees, especially the drivers and conductors who come in contact with the public, were naturally worried after the cases started going up," an official said.

"We had 20,000 employees attending the work before the lockdown. Now that the cases are crossing 2,000 mark every day, the employees' number is expected to come down drastically," an official said.

Moreover, it is forced to reduce the service due to a drastic fall in ridership. "After the lockdown ends, the number will further go down as many are staying away from mass public transport. We were running 3,500 to 4,800 buses per day in June and beginning of July. Even if the government allows the buses, we won't have passengers for more than 1,000 buses," the official said.