Rush hour back at Delhi Metro amid Covid 3.0 fears

With surge in commuters for public transport in the national capital, Delhi Metro is plagued by the challenge of handling the overcrowding at its various locations. On Monday, commuters could be seen waiting in kilometre long queues outside Rajiv Chowk metro station in the Connaught Place area.

DMRC spokesperson Himangshu told BizzBuzz that a request has been sent to the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on revision of restrictions of passengers. As of July 12th, DMRC has been permitted to run with 50 percent passenger capacity.

"These are government guidelines. We can't allow more passengers; we can only allow 50 percent of the capacity as per government norms. We can't even open all the doors. So, which is why the crowds are there," Himangshu said.

According to the DMRC spokesperson, a letter was sent to the DDMA two weeks ago to allow more passengers in the Delhi Metro. However, the permission for the same has not been granted so far. "We are waiting for the approval. Whenever they can grant us the permission to open and give some relaxation to us, we will open, but so far this is not in our hands," he added.

Bizz Buzz also spoke with some of the metro users amid restrictions and preventive precautions undertaken by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to maintain social distance.

36 years-old Bhavani Sharma, who works as a private education tutor, said that standing in long queues is a regular occurrence since the reopening of the Delhi Metro. "Out of total 8 entry gates for Rajiv Chowk metro station, only one is open for general public for entry and another for exit. This doesn't make much sense for me since everyone knows that Rajiv Chowk sees maximum commuters coming in. How can you maintain any social distance outside when over a hundred people are waiting for entry?" Sharma told BizzBuzz.

Similar occurrence was seen outside Barakhamba, Karol Bagh and Rajinder Nagar metro stations. With the reopening of shops and public transport in the National Capital region, several market places such as Karol Bagh (Gaffar Market), Rohini, Lajpat Nagar and Sadar Bazar were partially shut down by the DDMA for violation of COVID-19 norms. At present, DMRC will operate metro with eight-coach train and can run with around 250-300 sitting passengers only. Additionally, standing commuters will not be allowed in the metro trains.

62-year-old N Jayaprakash, a retired government employee, expressed his dissatisfaction over the arrangements made for the general public to access public transport system. The scenario, however, is unlikely to change as experts have warned of a possible third wave of coronavirus outbreak later this year.