Trade fair attracts 2 lakh visitors; Metro, traffic feel the pressure

“Approximately one-and-a-half lakh people travelled by Metro on the Blue Line from Pragati Maidan station on Wednesday. There were many more people at the fair. But not all could come into the Metro station. We had to divert many people to enter the fair from gates number 5 and 11 because gate number 10 was choked. Trains were slowed down because of the rush,” DCP (Metro) Jitender Mani said.
Many managed enter the Metro station after braving long queues, but had to wait for trains. When trains did come, many could not eventually get in. Iti Tyagi, 25, said, “I went into the Metro station with great difficulty, but the train came after 15 minutes and I could not get in. There was such a mad rush that the gates were not closing. So I got out of the Metro to take an auto.”

Roads around the fair were equally crowded. Traffic crawled and autorickshaws did not stop to pick up passengers.

“I have been waiting for an auto but no one is stopping. One or two drivers stopped but so many people rushed to him that no one got a chance. They are fleecing passengers and charging arbitrary rates,” said 45-year-old Premnath.

Traffic police said the Ring Road saw a lot of traffic to and from the trade fair.

DCP (Traffic Operations) Sharad Agarwal said, “We had to divert cars on Mathura Road from going towards ITO. There was a huge parking problem also. The capacity at the trade fair had reached its full. So, many had to be sent away for parking at the India Gate radials. Many were parked in unauthorised areas and we removed these vehicles.”

Man jumps in front of Metro at Rajiv Chowk
At about at 5.45 pm, a 36-year-old man identified as Prashant Pathak jumped before a Metro train entering Rajiv Chowk station. He was rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. He suffered injuries on his right shoulder and his condition is said to be stable, Metro police said. It was not immediately clear how he was rescued. Police are questioning him, said sources. Metro services towards Noida came to a short halt when the incident occurred.

“Prima facie it appears he had a dispute with his wife, who left him a couple of days ago,” said a police officer.