Title - With no alternative, rain sees Metro rush in Gurgaon

With rains lashing the city, more and more office-goers in Gurgaon and Noida tend to depend on Metro to reach their destinations. In case of Gurgaon, absence of any other reliable mode of transport has added to the rush during peak hours as was seen on Monday with long queues of commuters stretching outside the stations. 

“It took me more than half-an-hour to enter the station and another five minutes to reach the platform. The DMRC should do something about it,  because two checking points and four long queues with more than 200 people in each queue is certain make our lives difficult,” said Anant Aggarwal, a commuter.

“I wanted to go to Model Town and since it rained in the morning I thought Metro will be a better option. But, entering the station was very difficult,” said Amit Sehrawat, a Gurgaon resident.

According to the DMRC figures, about eight lakh people travel on Gurgaon-Jahangirpuri Metro line during weekend. On weekdays, the footfall remains around four to five lakh. And that can be a bit too exhausting for the CISF officials who carry out security checking. “With such a huge crowd and just two entry gates, life is bound to become miserable. Both we as well as the DMRC can do little about it since putting additional checkpoints outside is not an option,” said a CISF official at the Huda City Centre station.

Rains have compounded the trouble as the station premises often get waterlogged. “We can’t enter the station because the whole premise is filled with filthy water,” said Ashish Chaturvedi, a commuter.

Many commuters suggested that the ticket counters at the station be shifted outside. But that is not feasible, said Metro officials. “The counters are fixed and more than more than 60% of commuters use Smart Cards and they don’t stand in queue for token,” said an official.