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When lack of public transport really hurt

Hindustan Times, Gurugram | BySharanya Munsi
May 22, 2019 02:43 AM IST

Deepak Kumar, who was stranded outside Qutub Minar station for over an hour, said, “I saw DMRC’s tweet that there’s a feeder bus service, but nobody knew where they were; even DMRC officials were unsure.”

On Tuesday, for Noida resident PN Sharma, the daily commute from Noida Sector 16 to MG Road Metro station, turned into a mini adventure.

Sharma, who started his journey from Noida at 10am, was forced to hitchhike in a crowded open truck in his fine grey suit after the Metro snag at Chhatarpur left him stranded at Qutab Minar. He reached Gurugram only at 1pm. “There was an open mini truck offering lifts for 30 outside the Qutab Minar Metro station. Seeing the huge crowd on the road, I just went for it,” said Sharma as he hurried away to meet his client.

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Sharma was just one of the hundreds of commuters who were forced to channelize their street-smarts after operations were halted between Sultanpur and Qutab Minar stations on the Yellow Line. Hundreds of commuters hitchhiked or walked in the heat on a day when traffic on MG Road was worse than usual.

“I walked three kilometres between the two stations, there was no option,” said Kishan at MG Road Metro station. He was accompanied by another passenger who was forced to lug his large, red trolley bag all the way to Sultanpur.

“I am lucky that I got a cab. So many people were walking, some were sitting on the pavement,” said Raj Kumar Yadav, whose cab took almost three hours to reach New Delhi Metro station from Guru Dronacharya Metro station.

Deepak Kumar, who was stranded outside Qutub Minar station for over an hour, said, “I saw DMRC’s tweet that there’s a feeder bus service, but nobody knew where they were; even DMRC officials were unsure.”

Even commuters travelling to the city were hit as the Metro services had slowed. “I took the Metro from Central Secretariat. It took me an hour to reach Qutab Minar,” said Dilip Kumar, a CRPF personnel who paid 50 to share an auto with five people to reach Sultanpur Metro station, where he was deployed.

At Huda City Centre Metro station announcements were made that Metro was only plying till Sultanpur, but commuters were left confused when they saw LED boards flash Samaypur Badli as the terminal destination and the incoming Metros flashed Sultanpur Track 3.

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