As many as 145 buses carrying around 5,800 passengers from the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand had arrived in Delhi till 9.30am on Tuesday, hours after the city administration opened all the interstate bus terminals (ISBTs) for the first time in seven months.
The national Capital has three ISBTs at Kashmere Gate, Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar — all of which were opened from Monday midnight after remaining shut under the nationwide lockdown owing to the coronavirus pandemic since March 21.
KK Dahiya, managing director of the Delhi Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation (DTIDC) Limited that manages and operated all the ISBTs, said 70 buses, mostly from Haryana, had arrived at the Kashmere Gate ISBT till 9.30am. This was followed by 60 buses from UP and Uttarakhand at the Anand Vihar ISBT and 15 buses from Rajasthan and UP at the Sarai Kale Khan ISBT.
“People are being de-boarded at the entry gate of the ISBTs from where they are being allowed to leave for their respective destinations in the city after frisking and thermal screening. The same is being done for those entering the ISBTs to board buses for the neighbouring states. Even as buses were allowed to enter from midnight, the maximum frequency of interstate buses was seen between 6am and 9.30am,” he said.
Dahiya added that there was no crowding as the number of buses allowed to enter the terminal has been slashed to 50% of the pre-Covid times, until November 15. Before the onset of the pandemic, the three ISBTs would witness a combined footfall of over 250,000 every day. On a daily basis, there were 3,500 trips of interstate buses and 2,000 trips of local buses.
According to the SOP prepared by the Delhi government, interstate buses have to be sanitised by the respective depots of bus operators at the point of origin and before departure from the respective ISBT. Thermal checking of both passengers and the bus crew at boarding and at the point of entry to ISBTs is also mandatory. Passengers have to mandatorily wear face mask and no standing passengers will be allowed in the buses. Social distancing will be ensured on ground station, at the time of boarding of passengers and inside the bus as per government guidelines. These will be done through markers on ground and waiting areas, similar to the ones in all buses and Metro.
“In addition to these, testing camps for Rapid/ RT-PCR tests have also been set up at all ISBTs in case any asymptomatic passenger shows signs of illness after thermal screening. The safety of both passengers and staff and crew is of utmost priority to us. We’ve been carefully monitoring patterns of travelling since we resumed bus services, and even though interstate travel is a challenge, we are ensuring sanitisation at every point. Apart from this, regular announcements and sensitisation of passengers about Covid-19 precautions through audio – visual communication is also being undertaken. Strict ban on use of gutka, tobacco products, etc. in the premises of ISBTs shall be made,” Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot said.
