Passengers left stranded as Delhi Metro services affected following technical snag

Sumedha Sharma
Tribune News Service
Gurugram, May 21

Thousands of Metro commuters headed from Gurugram to Delhi were left stranded at the Sultanpur station after being asked to abruptly de-board following a technical snag.

Though according to sources, the train services were hit around 9.32 am due to breakdown of the overhead wire at Sultanpur station, leading to tripping of power supply in the section, it took over two hours for the DMRC to tweet about the snag.

Passengers were asked to reach the Qutab Minar station and take further trains. However, with no Metro feeder buses available people had no choice but to walk for 5 km or shell out a whopping Rs 200 per person to reach the Qutab Minar. Within minutes no auto-rickshaws were available and the cab operators also hiked the rates despite their
drivers refusing to take booking.

The misery further aggravated at the Qutab Minar station as it too was non-functional and locked as hundreds of passengers who had left in the HUDA Metro around 9 am had been waiting there for the Metro for about three hours. Not being allowed inside the station the passengers stood waiting for help on the road and it was in the afternoon that the local police and CRPF posted at the Metro station reacted to the chaos.

Not being able to extend much help they tried to keep traffic moving, roughing up and pushing the passengers to stick to the dividers or footpaths. As and when they got an auto-rickshaw they would stuff four to five people asking the auto driver to drop them at the next Metro station. The drivers taking advantage of this forced people to pay anywhere between Rs 200 and Rs 350.

Meanwhile, several stranded commuters chose Twitter to express their inconvenience. Commuters shot videos of the massive chaos where people were seen walking on the tracks, standing in extended queues, and several were stranded outside the Qutab Minar Metro station.

It was only around 1.45 pm that the DMRC claimed on Twitter that services had resumed but it took another hour for the chaos to end.

Meanwhile, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter saying he had asked the Transport Minister to look into matter and ask the DMRC to fix the responsibility.