Bengaluru,  The South Western Railway (SWR) on Friday denied that its stations in Karnataka were over-crowded amid surge in Covid cases across the southern state.

"No rush or over-crowding at our stations in Karnataka," said SWR's in-charge general manager Gajanan Malya in a statement, terming an undated and unverified video that went viral on social media showing over-crowding a station fake.

Claiming that the fake video was an act of mischief, Malya urged people not to share or forward such clips on social media.

"We are operating from 20 special trains in the state to mitigate hardship faced by passengers due to the bus strike by state-run road transport corporation's employees since Monday, as per the protocols, ensuring social distancing, wearing a mask and sanitisation," asserted Malya.

"The public are advised to not pay need to such fake videos," he reiterated.

The intra and inter-state trains are being run from Friday to April 15 to clear the rush of passengers during the festival holidays and allow people to travel to their hometown or village due to the indefinite bus strike.

The special trains are in addition to regular express and passenger services being run, as per the Covid-induced guidelines of the Union Health Ministry.

Bengaluru railway division general manager A.K. Verma said the 20 pairs of special trains were being run on the request of the state government in view of Ugadi festival holidays and the bus strike.

"We are ready to operate more trains to enable people travel during the festival holidays from Bengaluru to their hometown or village," said Verma.

Advising people not to panic over fake video clips or false information, Verma said the railways was conducting campaign against the spread of the pandemic.

In a related development, the zonal railway has increased the frequency of trains between Bengaluru and Mysuru to 7 days from 6 days a week to clear the rush due to bus strike and festival holidays.