Gurgaon: The long queue was witnessed outside several metro stations in Gurgaon on Wednesday after Delhi announced that the train would take place with a capacity of 50% without provisions to stand for commuters.
Passengers, look jostling to move forward in the queue, expressing concerns over a hurry and waiting time.
Reducing passenger capacity, they said, there is no point because many are forced to stand in between the stations and social pause sans platforms.
In the midst of a Covid case increase in the national capital, District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) imposed a new limitation and limited seating on Delhi Metro to 50% seating capacity and prohibiting passengers standing.
Sarita Yadav, 38, from Dharera, who traveled to Delhi, said he would start before if he knew there would be a delay.
Yadav, who will reach Delhi at 11:30 a.m.
for appointments that relate to work, have to wait in the queue outside the metro station until noon.
Other Satish Kumar, 34, who also had to stand in the queue for almost half an hour, claimed he missed an important meeting at work.
“What’s the point? We stand outside in a long queue back to the back.
Aren’t we going to sign Covid here in the queue and bring it inside the Metro station? Isn’t this whole practice by the government in vain and intended to create discomfort for us,” said Kumar.
Two CISF personnel, which are placed outside the IFFCO Chowk metro station to manage the queue, say that the gate is closed for 5 minutes after each batch of 10 people sent inside the station.
“We have received an order that batch 10 people will go inside after it will wait a few minutes before another batch is allowed.
It is being done in the background of the Covid situation,” said one CISF personnel.
While some commuters appreciate the government’s decision, some said the authorities should make provisions to manage the crowd outside the better stations.
“The Metro Authority and CISF personnel cannot manage the crowd properly.
People encourage each other, rely on each other, defeating all the purpose of Covid’s behavior,” Kavish 38 years said.
Meanwhile, Ulpentine’s queue and the waiting period to enter the metro station that sometimes stretches longer than the trip itself back in Delhi is also on Wednesday, along with a massive crowding at the bus stop during rush hour as level 1 of the action response plan Covid (GRAP) response.
To set the number of passengers inside the station and the train to ensure the corresponding behavior of Covid, the DMRC only stores 444 out of a total of 712 gates on the open network.
It also asks for passengers to travel only if it is important and save extra time for travel.
DMRC has deployed 15 flying teams to ensure that the safety protocol is maintained.
“Not everyone has the luxury of working from home and because private offices are allowed to open, people like me have no choice but to go to work.
I can’t afford to buy the Metro and the bus allow very few passengers,” said Rajesh Pal, a resident of Kapashera.
Amit Bhatt, Executive Director (Integrated Transportation) in WRI India, said something must be done to reduce demand for public transportation now and encourage more people to work remotely, excluding those who demand them in the field.
“In a global experience, there are no empirical studies that say that public transport has helped spread Covid,” he said.