'First journey was pleasant', Delhi Metro commuters laud safety standards

<p id="content">After a hiatus of more than five months, the Delhi Metro today resumed its services on the Yellow line, connecting Samaypur Badli to Huda City Centre, and Rapid Metro in Gurugram with abundant caution. Many commuters were seen appreciating the precautionary measures in place, while some rued over its connectivity to other metro lines.</p>
The first metro left the platform from Huda City Centre metro station in Gurugram, in Haryana for Samaypur Badli metro station in Delhi at 7 a.m. "We are on our way. It's been 169 days since we've seen you! Travel responsibly and commute if it's only necessary", tweeted Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

The crowd at the stations in the morning was, however, scarce, and mainly consisted of office-goers and people traveling from other cities to the national capital. The frequency of the trains remained normal.

Due to the low-footfall, the social distance was efficiently maintained. A handful of passengers were also given the masks by the metro authorities as their masks did not meet the standard of safety.

"The first journey was pleasant. All the precautionary measures are in place. The preparation has been made exactly how it should be during the coronavirus pandemic," said Mohammed Asad, traveling from Kashmere Gate to Nangloi.

Another commuter lauded the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for maintaining the highest quality of safety standards right from the entry point of the stations to the metro coach.

"I am traveling from Kashmere Gate to Gurugram. It is a great respite to people like us as the metro is one of the most convenient transport as it hurts the pocket much less," said one Roshan Yadav.

One passenger said that he will never be hesitant to travel in the metro after witnessing such a massive arrangement and strict standard operating procedures in place.

"Moreover, it is really great that even the people are adhering to the same and are understanding the gravity of the situation," said one Rahul Singh.

A person, who earlier traveled from Varanasi, had to go to Greater Noida, which falls on the aqua line, and another person was going to the Ganga Ram Hospital. Both rued that not all the metro lines were functional and they faced travel issues due to the lack of connectivity.

"I work at the Ganga Ram Hospital, I had to reach the hospital by 7.30 a.m., but since the blue line is not working, I am late for my job. I should have taken a cab," said a disheartened Mahaveer Prasad.

Over a period of next five days, the rest of the metro lines will also be made operational with all the safety measures in place to check the spread of Covid-19 in the Metro premises which requires everyone to follow a new normal of social distancing, face mask and hand sanitization.

At a time when the capital city is reportedly witnessing a second wave of the viral infection, the government has allowed for the metro rail service to resume as a part of the unlockdown 4.0 in a bid to restart the economy, while also keeping in mind the huge loss incurred by the corporation in the last few months.

Even though the government has, time and again, asserted that both lives and livelihood are important, several epidemiologists believe that resumption of the metro will further increase the infection in the city..