Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) Delhi Metro conducted exercises in four busy stations to check the response time in the event of a terrorist attack but the nearly half-hour drill hit hard thousands of commuters.
While many admitted they knew about the temporary stoppage of services, others complained they had no clue that trains would be halted and stations closed down from about 11.30 until noon.

The mock drill, supervised by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, took place at the Rajouri Garden, Mandi House, Netaji Subhash Place and Dilshad Garden stations, a Metro spokesperson said.

The official admitted that the exercise disrupted train services for more than 20 minutes.

Although the four stations are located on two of the three Metro lines, the entire service was hit.

Debojit Das, a young commuter, complained that he had to desperately seek a postponement of an interview he was to attend.

“As I was getting late for the interview, I took the Metro to Connaught Place not knowing about the security drill. Then there was an announcement that we have to deboard the train,” he said.

“I lost 20-25 precious minutes and had to call the interviewer to postpone the meeting,” he said.

Student Rajni Dey said: “I waited outside the Civil Lines station for 20 minutes. We have become so dependant on Metro that to use any other public transport for long distances has become unimaginable.”

But some commuters said they knew what to expect Friday.

“Last time there was major confusion because there were hardly any announcements. But today there were continuous announcements in the trains and on platforms about the drill,” said Sarita Jain.

The Metro official said: “The aim was to check the preparedness of Delhi Metro staff as well as to test the coordination between our staff, police and the fire brigade (in the event of a terror attack).”

Since 2005, more than 15 mock drills have been conducted at Metro stations in which scenarios like terror attacks, evacuation of trains and stations, derailment and fire were created.

Delhi Metro ferries around 950,000 commuters daily on its 96-km network. Ahead of the Commonwealth Games in October, it will span to nearly all corners of Delhi as well as suburbs increasing the network to 190 km.