New Delhi: Women on Monday gave a thumbs-up to
the special coach reserved for them on Metro trains, but the
men were unhappy as they complained of "over-crowding" in
other compartments.
Though the Metro reserved the first coach of every train
for women from Saturday, today was the first week-day when
office-goers used it and the fairer sex welcomed the move
saying they had a comfortable ride on the Metro.
The women`s coach on the trains had less people when
compared to other coaches, which were jam-packed and at some
stations people could not even de-board from the train.
Ankita, a journalist, was happy as she got a seat on the
train for the first time in several weeks and was excited to
see the coach full of women.
"It was a long-pending dream of the women in the
capital. In the normal coaches, we did not have even space to
stand and we were pushed. Now its very comfortable," she says.
But, Arvind, a software professional, disagreed with her,
saying the move to allot one coach for women has resulted in
over-crowding on the remaining three coaches.
"I did not have even space to stand on the Metro. The
move should have not come now. The first coach was relatively
free and the rest three coaches were jam-packed," he said.
Many men complained that they missed two to three trains
at stations due to over-crowding on the general coaches.
At Rajiv Chowk Metro station, people alleged that some
elderly men fell down after being pushed by the commuters who
were in a hurry to deboard the train.
It was a stampede-like situation at the station as
every train which came from Jehangirpuri was jam-packed. The
general mood was that Metro could have done this after it had
introduced the six-coach trains by the end of this year.
DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said it was very early to
say whether there will be any reconsideration of the move.
"It has just been two days. Let us see," he said when
asked about the over-crowding and complaint from the people.
The move is being implemented on an experimental basis.
-PTI
