Not allowed on board due to Covid curbs, people damage DTC buses

A group of people blocked the MB Road in Delhi and damaged DTC buses on Thursday morning after not being allowed to board a vehicle that had exceeded the permissible passenger-carrying capacity under Covid-related restrictions.

Police used mild force to disperse the crowd and five people were detained, officials said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) M Harsha Vardhan said some people blocked the MB Road and broke the glass of a DTC bus around 10:30 am.

"Police dispersed the crowd. A case under relevant sections of the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and the Indian Penal Code is being registered at Sangam Vihar police station.

"The incident occurred due to the non-availability of seats in buses in view of Covid-related restrictions," he said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Benita Marry Jaiker said in the morning, several calls complaining about a traffic jam near Jamia Hamdard on the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road were received.

"Police reached the spot and found that some commuters were instigating others to sit on the road as bus drivers and marshals were not allowing more than 17 passengers to board as per the latest guidelines of the Delhi government," the DCP said.

Police tried to convince the people not to disrupt traffic movement on the stretch. Later, the people broke windowpanes of four to five buses, she said.

Police removed the protesters from the spot. In the melee, a policeman was injured, Jaiker said, adding that four men and two women were arrested and a juvenile was apprehended.

Videos of the incident that emerged on social media showed that two buses were damaged. Their windshields and side mirrors were broken.

In a video, the conductor of a bus said, "We have instructions to allow only 17 passengers on board at a time. When there are 20 people, including the driver, conductor and marshal, on the bus, we do not stop it (bus). If we stop and more people enter the bus, we will be fined Rs 2,000."

"When we did not stop the bus today, people got agitated and started pelting stones. However, nobody inside the bus was injured," he said.

Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases following the emergence of the Omicron variant, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday declared a 'yellow alert', closing schools, colleges, cinemas and gyms in the city.

Shops dealing in non-essential items will open on an odd-even basis, and metro trains and buses will at 50 per cent of seating capacity.

Under the four-stage Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), the 'yellow alert' kicks in if the positivity rate settles at 0.5 per cent for two consecutive days, leading to a host of restrictions.

The GRAP was approved by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority in July in anticipation of the third wave of Covid. It aims to bring in a clearer picture of imposition and lifting of restrictions depending on the Covid situation.