Queues outside Metro stations, buses damaged
Long queues of people were seen outside various Delhi Metro stations for the second consecutive day on Thursday, after the imposition of fresh curbs by authorities to check the spread of a rising number of Covid cases in the national capital.
Meanwhile, anticipating a huge rush of commuters on the New Year’s Eve, Delhi Metro authorities have decided that exit from the Rajiv Chowk metro station will not be allowed after 9 pm on Friday.
However, with new Covid restrictions and a night curfew in place from 10 pm onwards in Delhi amid a scare of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the crowd is likely to be small.
“To ease overcrowding on New Year’s Eve (31st December, 2021), exit from Rajiv Chowk metro station will not be allowed from 9 pm onwards. However, entry of passengers will be allowed till the departure of the last train from the station. Commuters are requested to plan their journey accordingly,” the DMRC said in a statement on Thursday.
For the second consecutive day since the restrictions came into force, the queues were seen getting longer at some of the stations in the morning hours, when metro services are used by a large number of office-goers, officials said, adding that they are doing theirs best to ensure compliance of the Covid norms.
Huge queues of commuters were seen outside the Laxmi Nagar and Akshardham stations, among other station, on Wednesday. Many had taken to Facebook and Twitter to share pictures of queues outside metro stations.
Meanwhile, a group of people blocked the MB Road and damaged a few DTC buses on Thursday morning after not being allowed to board a bus that had exceeded the permissible passenger-carrying capacity. Police used mild force to disperse the crowd and five people were detained, officials said.
Sources said as offices are open and not many can afford a private car or other means of transportation every day, they are bound to use public transport and such queues will be seen if the 50 per cent seating capacity rule is in place. In a statement on Thursday evening, DMRC said its permissible carrying capacity had drastically got reduced from 2,400 to 200 for an eight-coach train.