Confusion has two new hotspots in Delhi: Shivaji and Ambedkar Stadium bus terminals

NEW DELHI: Compared with the chaos of Wednesday after the first special passenger trains from different cities arrived in Delhi, the scene outside the Ajmeri Gate side exit of New Delhi Railway Station on Thursday morning was of general orderliness. The chaos, however, had only shifted to two new locations: the Shivaji Stadium and Ambedkar Stadium bus terminals.
After watching desperate people trying to find transport to go home on Wednesday, Delhi Police prodded Delhi Transport Corporation to arrange buses to pick up arriving passengers and drop them at these two terminals.
On the 20 shuttle buses at the railway station, passengers headed north and west were sent to Shivaji Stadium and those going south, central and east were sent to Ambedkar Stadium. Those who boarded the buses and paid the Rs 5 fare soon realised there was a hitch in the ride home. Sources said special permission had been received to ply buses from the railway station to the offices of the district magistrates of Delhi’s 11 districts. Many people lived at a distance from the DM offices. Also, passengers going to Haryana and UP were dropped nowhere close to the state borders.
While Delhi Police personnel guided passengers emerging from the station to the row of waiting shuttle buses, the confusion was compounded by the absence of any DTC official there. “I have to go to Sarita Vihar. The shuttle bus conductors are asking me to reach Ambedkar Stadium, but there’s no surety I will get a bus to drop me at Sarita Vihar,” said Subhasish Das, who was stranded in Patna while attending a seminar. Das called his father to pick him up, but the elderly gentleman feared he would be stopped by police on the way and suggested a cab instead. Das waited a few hours for a friend to eventually ferry him home.
A large number of people had already requested family members or friends to pick them up from the station or had pre-arranged taxis. “We were following the news and knew the chaos that awaited us here. I asked my brother to come and fetch me,” said Palam resident Subhash Sharma.
Mohammed Qasim of Patel Nagar had a comfortable train journey, but had faced a huge problem in reaching Patna with his family from Darbhanga, a distance of 400km. “Now, I’m again facing the same problem,” he said. “Though I don’t live too far away from here, I can’t walk the distance and there are no buses.” Qasim finally had to request a neighbour to pick him up.
“At least there are buses here,” said Panipat resident Sanjay Kumar. “In Mumbai, I had to walk from Bhayandar to Mumbai Central to catch the train. I hope a DTC bus drops me somewhere near the Singhu border. I will make some arrangements from there.” Kumar eventually got down at GT Karnal Road and went to a friend’s home in Alipur in north Delhi. “I’m too tired today to plan anything,” he said when TOI contacted him late in the evening.
At the Ambedkar Stadium terminal, those trying to reach towns like Bareilly, Saharanpur, Pant Nagar and Muradnagar in UP had angry exchanges demanding they be dropped at Anand Vihar border while DTC staff said they could only leave them a considerable distance away at the Northeast DM’s office in Nand Nagari.
From Friday, things might improve. Harendra Kumar Singh, DCP (Railways), said, “This is not serving people and I have requested DTC to drop passengers to the nearest point from their home. From Friday, DTC buses will reach far-flung areas like Mehrauli, Harsh Vihar, Narela, Kapashera, Rohini, etc.”