BENGALURU: Five homeguards at Baiyappanahalli Metro station are going beyond the call of duty to ensure a smooth Metro ride for Bengalureans. Thrice every week, they stand at the gates of the Metro station to guide commuters on use of tokens or smart cards, and the trains to be taken.
The khaki uniform is set aside and they don civilian clothes in order to assist the public in the role of volunteers. B Yagnesh, Vijay Kumar, Suresh, KP Manju and Ashok Kumar are a bunch of friends in the 30-plus age group with a passion to give back something to society.
When City Express visited the Baiyappanahalli Metro station, Yagnesh was busy handling non-stop queries from commuters at the Automatic Fare Collection gates. “We began doing this one-and-a-half months ago. During our duty hours, we saw many passengers requiring assistance on using the travel cards or tokens or wanting to know how they should reach different destinations. So we decided to assist them during our spare time.”
The group takes turns in assisting passengers. “Each of us helps out for at least two-and-a-half hours after we complete our shift. When I work from 8am to 2pm, I finish my shift and go home. I then return after 5pm to assist passengers on the days I am able to volunteer,” he said, adding that the relief on customers’ faces gives him an immense sense of satisfaction.
Shahid Khan, a senior citizen and first-time traveller on Metro, was happy with the attention given to him. “I hail from Tumakuru and have never used the Metro. I have come to Bengaluru to visit my son. He was worried when I wanted to travel by Metro on my own but I got so much help,” he said.
AS Shankar, executive director, Operations and Maintenance, lauded the gesture by the home guards. “It is their initiative. Give them all the credit for it,” Shankar said. Sometimes, BMRCL also made use of home guards in civilian clothes to keep track of stations, he added.