From Panchami to Dashami of this Durga Puja, 46.56 lakh passengers have availed Metro services and more than 5.01 lakh passengers have booked tickets through AAMAR KOLKATA METRO app during these days. On Panchami, more than 9.82 lakh passengers have travelled in the Metro. This has been the highest ever daily passenger count in the history of Metro Railway. In the last year, 41.15 lakh passengers travelled in the Metro from Panchami to Dashami. In this Puja, highest number of passengers have travelled in the Metro. The previous highest passenger count in Puja was 45.61 lakh in 2019.
During the Puja Days, crowd management was a great challenge for Metro Railway. In order to ensure efficient crowd management, elaborate planning was made and accordingly various measures were taken. Crowd management instructions were prepared and issued to assign role and responsibilities of each officer and staff deployed for Puja duty. Prior to Puja, series of meetings were held with station staff and staff of other departments to design a flawless action plan to handle Puja crowd. During puja days large number of officers and staff were deployed at various crowded stations to ensure smooth services and crowd management. Metro officers and staff sacrificed their festival time for the benefit of the commuters. Metro authorities were also in constant touch with state police department and held meetings to make the planning flawless. Adequate RPF and State Police personnel were deployed at different stations for ensuring safety and security of commuters. Large number of Scouts and Guides volunteers of Eastern Railway were also deployed at stations to help the commuters. Extensive CCTV monitoring was carried out as part of the crowd management plan to help deployment of security personnel effectively and manage crowd dispersal smoothly. Smooth train operations and effective crowd management were ensured during the Puja days. Medical Booths with doctors, paramedical staff along with other adequate arrangements were also provided at different important stations for handling any medical emergency. A total of 94 handheld loud hailers and 28 handheld ticketing machines were used during the Puja.
Subhransu Sekhar Mishra, General Manager and other high-level officials of Metro Railway also visited different stations and travelled in trains to ensure efficient crowd management.
Under the new scheme, 18,498 Smart Cards have been issued from Panchami to Dashami and more than 1.59 lakh Smart Cards have been revalidated for 10 years under the new scheme and reduced issue price at ₹ 100/-which is phenomenal and it has also helped in reducing rush at the booking counters. A total of 646 Tourist Smart Cards have also been sold from Panchami to Dashami. A large number of commuters also opted for booking tickets from Ticket Vending Machines (TVM).
