NEW DELHI: Commuters had a torrid time to reach their destinations, with some missing important meetings at offices and appointments at hospitals in the early hours. “My sister had an appointment at AIIMS and we missed it. Our Metro got stuck at Jorbagh for about one and a half hours. There was suffocation due to which many patients on the train were inconvenienced. Finally, we got down at Udyog Bhawan and returned home without meeting our doctor,” said a woman, who had travelled all the way from Vaishali.
She complained that besides her, there were other patients in the Metro train who were on their way to different hospitals in South Delhi. Many commuters were running late to reach heir office day due to the technical snag on the Yellow Line near Chhatarpur. Despite the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation announcing around 1 p.m. that the service was restored, there was a slowdown in train movement on the line till late in the evening.
Hum Nashin Ahmed, an advocate who travels to Gurugram, decided to return home mid-way near Qutub Minar. It took him three hours to reach Jasolla from Qutub Minar, which is otherwise a 30-minute ride. “I was in the train from which passengers were evacuated near Qutub Minar. I couldn’t reach office. There was no cab or any alternative like Ola, Uber autorickshaws. Finally, I managed to take three autos from Qutub to Saket, Saket to Nehru Place and then to Jasola,” Ahmed told The Morning Standard.
The same Metro line also caters to Vishwavidyalaya station of Delhi University, IIT, and JNU. Thousands of students were among the passengers stuck either at stations or roads. “I had an important meeting at JNU ahead of the admission season and I missed it. I had come all the way from Badarpur,” rued a student.
Taxi operators had a field day as they charged the troubled passengers exorbitantly instead of routine fares. “This is just pure loot a snag in metro and @Olacabs @Uber start looting people in name of surcharge. High time @MORTHIndia do something about it (sic), an angry youth tweeted.