Thanks to the Wuhan Virus pandemic, the last one year has been bad for public transport. This has been problematic especially in larger cities such as Mumbai and Chennai. However, Chennai went a step ahead of other cities by installing something as elementary as hand sanitizer dispensers on all buses operated by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC).
Below is a picture that I clicked in January this year. At many places, conductors were insistent that people enter only thru the read door and sanitize their hands before purchasing a ticket. At Vadapalani bus station, several conductors even refused to let passengers board if they weren’t wearing masks or didn’t sanitize their hands.
While Tamil Nadu ranks second among deaths and fifth among total cases, one must remember that it is the most urbanised among India’s states (not counting Goa or Sikkim) with 48.15% of its population living in urban clusters. Kerala comes in second with Maharashtra with 47.7% and 45.2% respectively. These two states have meanwhile seen 1.14 million and 3.01 million total cases and nearly 5,000 and 56,000 deaths respectively as opposed to Tamil Nadu with 9 lakh total cases and 12,700 deaths. A special round of applause for Dr Beela Rajesh who served as the state’s health secretary from February 2019 to June 2020.
Tamil Nadu has done really well in its fight against the Wuhan Virus and one has to thank chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami for that. The state goes to polls on 6 April and I hope people remember EPS’ role in tackling the virus when they cast their votes.
Hand sanitizers in buses. Now why didn’t anyone else think of that?
Featured Image: MTC Tata Bharat Stage IV buses. Image Credits: Vinoth Thambidurai (VOMMspotter)
When you head out to vote for the AIADMK-PMK-BJP alliance on 6th, please remember to wear a mask, carry hand sanitizer and maintain social distancing.
