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New Delhi: Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the lockdown to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak till May 3, the Indian Railways and Ministry of Civil Aviation have also decided to extend the cancellation of passenger train services and flight services till the lockdown period.
Also Read: COVID-19 Lockdown Extended Till May 3, Announces PM Modi
The Railway Ministry in a statement said, "In continuation of the measures taken in the wake of Covid-19 lockdown, it has been decided that all passenger train services of Indian Railways including premium trains, mail and express trains, passenger trains, suburban trains, Kolkata Metro Rail, Konkan Railway etc shall continue to remain cancelled till May 3.
All passenger train services on Indian Railways including Premium trains, Mail/Express trains, Passenger trains, Suburban Trains, Kolkata Metro Rail, Konkan Railway etc shall continue to remain cancel till the 2400hrs of 3rd May 2020. #IndiaFightsCorona
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) April 14, 2020
It said that to ensure essential supplies reach various parts of the country -- movement of goods and parcel trains will continue.
Pointing out towards the rules of cancellation of all passenger train tickets the ministry said, all counters for booking of rail journey tickets for reserved or unreserved travel at railway stations and outside railway station premises shall remain closed upto May 3.
VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT pic.twitter.com/cpLopljVXI
— EAST COAST Railway (@eastcoastrail) April 14, 2020
"For trains cancelled by Indian Railways, full refund will be provided automatically by IRCTC. Users need not cancel their e-tickets. Full fare will be credited back into users accounts from which payment was made," a statement from IRCTC said.
For trains cancelled by Indian Railways, full refund will be provided automatically by IRCTC. Users need not cancel their e-tickets. Full fare will be credited back into users accounts from which payment was made.
— IRCTC (@IRCTCofficial) April 14, 2020
The railways earlier suspended the services of over 13,600 passenger, mail and express trains as a measure to stop the spread of Covid-19 between March 24 and April 14.
Also Read: India’s Coronavirus Death Toll Reaches 339, Cases Soar To 10,363
Similarly, the Civil Aviation Ministry in a statement announced "All domestic and international scheduled Airlines operations shall remain suspended till 11.59 pm of 3rd May 2020."
All domestic and international scheduled Airlines operations shall remain suspended till 11.59 pm of 3rd May 2020.
— MoCA_GoI (@MoCA_GoI) April 14, 2020
— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) April 14, 2020
Earlier, flight services were till May 14 when the 21-day lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus was to end but Prime Minister Narendra Modi today extended it till May 3.
Following the extension of nationwide lockdown, domestic airlines have again decided not to refund customers in cash for their cancelled flights and instead offer them rescheduling of tickets for a later date without any additional fee.
With the announcement of 21-days nationwide lockdown to curb coronavirus pandemic, all domestic and international commercial passenger flights were suspended for this time period.
However, most of the airlines had been taking bookings except national carrier Air India for domestic flights for the period beyond April 14.
Aviation consultancy Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) India said the civil aviation ministry should instruct airlines to "halt unfair practice of taking advance bookings until resumption is certain and an interim transition schedule has been established".
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of lockdown till May 3, aviation regulator DGCA issued a circular stating all international, as well as domestic flights, will remain suspended during the lockdown.
"Following orders from the Ministry of Civil Aviation issued to all airlines, we have extended the suspension of our operations until May 3, 2020.
"We are in the process of cancelling the affected bookings and we will offer customers free of charge rescheduling to another date until December 31, 2020," a Vistara spokesperson said in a statement.
The customer, however, will have to pay the fare difference, if any, at the time of rebooking, the airline said.
(With Agency Inputs)