Commuters get a chance to be ‘friends of the Metro’

Stating that the daily footfall has increased from 10 lakh in 2009 to 26 lakh currently, Dayal said commuters will be encouraged to act as the Delhi Metro’s ‘eyes and ears’. “Community participation can go a long a way in improving the overall quality of services. A suspicious object or person, a car left unattended in a parking lot for days or anything unusual in the system can be reported,” he said.

Managing Director Mangu Singh felicitated 16 commuters who communicate regularly with the DMRC and the CISF on issues pertaining to Metro services. Children — those who ran away from home, got lost in the crowd at Metro stations, or were rescued from kidnappers with help of CISF and Metro officials — were also invited to the programme.

Archana (7), a Class II student, who came to the event with her father, was reportedly separated from her parents when they went to attend a Dushhera mela last year. Her father said, “We had taken a Metro to Dwarka where the fair was held. I was holding onto Archana but she got separated from me in the crowd. We kept looking for her for nearly two hours and also made announcements on the public address system. Archana, on realising she was lost, walked back to the Metro station. Some CISF personnel saw her and traced us.”