Covid-19: To avoid crowding of stations, Indian Railways relaxes ticket refund policy

In the wake of Covid-19, Indian Railways has decided to relax its refund policy for tickets booked from its counters.

According to the press release issued by South Western Railways, passengers cancelling their ticket scheduled between March 21 to April 15 can file for a refund up to 30 days from the date of journey. Earlier this period was only for three days.

If a ticket scheduled between March 21 to April 15 is cancelled by Indian Railways, passengers can claim for a refund across counters up to 45 days from the date of journey.

These relaxations are to ensure that passengers can conveniently claim refunds at a later date, without crowding the stations. Apart from washing hands and using alcohol-based hand sanitizer, "social distancing" is crucial to avoid community transmission of the deadly virus. On Thursday evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on present Covid-19 situation in India. He urged the citizens to refrain from venturing out of their homes, if not necessary and asked citizens for a self-imposed "Janta Curfew" on Sunday. In response to the Prime Minister Modi's direction, the Indian Railways has suspended trains between 4:00 am to 10:00pm on the "Janta Curfew" day.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of positive cases of Covid-19 in India stands at 283, which includes 39 foreigners. Four people have died in the country--one each in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra.