Karnataka relaxes COVID-19 curbs, resumes bus service to these Maharashtra districts from today, details here

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) issued an order which stated that the bus services to Maharashtra, Pune, Miraj, Solapur, Pandharpur and Tuljapur will resume with a seating capacity of 50 percent from Friday (June 25, 2021).

New Delhi: The Karnataka government on Thursday (June 24, 2021) further relaxed the COVID-induced lockdown curbs in the state and allowed the buses to resume services to Maharashtra. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) issued an order which stated that the bus services to Maharashtra, Pune, Miraj, Solapur, Pandharpur and Tuljapur from Bengaluru, Shivamogga, Mangaluru and other places of the state will resume with a seating capacity of 50 percent from Friday (June 25, 2021). 

Earlier, the KSRTC had resumed inter-state bus services to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with 50 percent seating capacity from June 22, as per the guidelines of respective states.

The KSRTC in an order stated that it is deploying only 3,000 buses initially for local and inter-district long route operations, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) had said it will ply 2,000 buses.

These relaxations came as part of the order issued by the Karnataka government on June 22, which also allowed all shops other than those air-conditioned, to function from 6 am to 1 pm, adding that the air-conditioned shopping complexes and malls will still remain shut.

The order was issued by state revenue department Principal Secretary N Manjunatha Prasad who stated that the lockdown norms have been relaxed in Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Davanagere, and Chamarajanagara districts of Karnataka, and this order will remain in effect till 5 am on July 5, 2021.

“In exercise of powers conferred under Section 24 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Chairman, State Executive Committee, after assessing current COVID 19 situation in certain districts, hereby permits the functioning of all shops other than air-conditioned shops, air-conditioned shopping complexes and malls, from 6 am to 1 pm,” the order said.

Meanwhile, Karnataka on Thursday recorded 3,979 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 138 deaths, taking the total number of infections to 28.23 lakh and toll to 34,425, the health department said. Thursday also saw 9,768 discharges, continuing to outnumber the fresh cases, taking the total number of recoveries in the state so far to 26,78,473. Out of 3,979 new cases reported, 969 were from Bengaluru Urban, as the city saw 3,176 discharges and 14 deaths.

The total number of active cases in the state is 1,10,523. While the positivity rate for the day stood at 2.46 percent, the case fatality rate (CFR) was at 3.46 percent.