KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Saturday wrote to the Eastern Railway authorities, seeking resumption of local train services in the districts to facilitate smooth travel of commuters.
The letter by the transport secretary said that following the resumption of suburban train services to and from Kolkata in different routes, the MEMU services in the districts of the state may be resumed.
The West Bengal government has sought a meeting with the ER authorities on the issue, sources said.
The city-headquartered Eastern and South Eastern Railway have resumed suburban train services from November 11.
The mainline electric multiple units (MEMU) serve short and medium distance routes in the districts.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 death toll in West Bengal rose to 7,976 after 53 more people succumbed to the disease on Saturday, the state health department said in a bulletin.
It said that 3,639 new cases of infection took the tally to 4,52,270.
Since Friday, 3,794 recoveries from the disease were reported and the discharge rate in the state now is 92.63 per cent.
Altogether 4,19,403 people have been cured of COVID-19 till date.
The number of active cases stood at 25,391, the bulletin said.
It said that 19 of the fresh fatalities were reported from North 24 Parganas district and nine from Kolkata.
The other casualties were registered in various other districts.
Of the 53 deaths reported on Saturday, 45 were due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental.
The 3,639 new cases included 890 from the metropolis and 842 from North 24 Parganas.
In the last 24 hours, 44,208 samples were tested for COVID-19 in West Bengal, taking the total number of such tests to 54,78,311.