50% train passengers to Goa outsiders: CM (lead)

Panaji, May 14 (IANS) Expressing concern over surge in visitors to the state, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said, here on Thursday, over 50 per cent of people booked on special trains to Goa were are not local residents.

“More than 50 per cent of the people coming to Goa by trains are outsiders. It’s a worry,” Sawant said.

He said the Goa government would write to the Ministry of Railways against halt in the coastal state for the special trains, currently operational. “We will write to the Railway Ministry that halts of trains (passing through) in Goa should be avoided,” Sawant said.

He said he had spoken to Home Minister Amit Shah and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal about the surge of “outsiders” travelling to Goa. “It’s a worry. I have spoken about it to the Home Minister and the Railway Minister and they have assured us,” Sawant said.

Seventeen people alighted the train, which halted in Goa on Thursday, all 17 have tested negative.

On Wednesday, Sawant had issued a strong warning to people using the special train service — to ferry stranded persons — started by the railways, to visit Goa on a holiday, saying the coastal state was not open for tourism yet.

After recording zero cases for more than a month, eight Covid-19 cases have been reported in the state in the last 24 hours. All the eight people, according to Sawant, had entered the state from Maharashtra and Gujarat via road.

–IANS

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