The Palakkad division of the Southern Railway has come up with several preventive measures against COVID-19 even as it reported frantic cancellation of group bookings in the past few days.
Officials said that creating awareness through announcements at different stations had already been started. Besides, multiple help desks had been provided at major stations at the Palakkad, Kozhikode and Mangaluru Central stations.
The daily reservation counter earnings of the division is ₹30 lakh. But, it declined to ₹10 lakh on Wednesday.
Cleaning
The Railway was taking efforts to minimise the spread of the disease with regular cleaning of booking office glass panes and railings. Materials such as posters and pamphlets regarding COVID-19 were now displayed in local languages at railway stations and in trains.
The staff in high contact areas and those involved in coach cleaning and conservancy work had been provided masks. Further, the railway was also working in close coordination with the State government. Each station had been given a dedicated phone number of district authorities for contact in case of need. Buildings had been identified and facilities made for quarantine and isolation as well, they said.
Flights cancelled
Meanwhile, several flights from the Calicut international airport to destinations such as Doha, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Muscat were cancelled on Saturday.
However, Air India resumed a jumbo flight to Jeddah. Spicejet and Indigo too operated a service each. K. Srinivasa Rao, airport director, said that Saudi Arabia had decided to suspend international flights for two weeks from Sunday.
