BENGALURU: Colourful balloons greeted commuters when the Metro underground corridor was inaugurated on April 30. They are now banned.
The informal restriction, not spelt out on the Metro website or the list of prohibited items displayed at the stations, is catching commuters unawares. A booklet for commuters, released recently, does not mention balloons either.
“A balloon could burst anytime and create panic on the platform or on board a train. With so much terror news in the air, commuters could mistake it for a bomb,” a top official said.
A Karnataka Industrial State Security Force guard at a Metro station said, “A sudden unexpected noise could even give elder citizens a heart attack.”
The Metro isn’t allowing balls either. “When a ball slips from the hand, children instinctively run to catch it. It could fall on the tracks when a train is approaching,” the official said.
Not everyone likes the restrictions. Children, especially, are upset. S Srividya, mother of four-year-old Maya, had spent `100 buying huge helium ‘Hello Kitty’ balloons outside Cubbon Park.
Fastening the thread around their wrists, Maya and her six-year-old cousin Nisha had a whale of a time. But when they approached the Metro station, the security staff barred them.
The children started wailing and just wouldn’t let go of the balloons. The family decided to take an auto home to Byappanahalli but the traffic deterred them.
“We finally forced the children to give up the balloons. They kept gazing up till the balloons vanished in the air. It made them teary-eyed,” Srividya said.
M Ashwini, mother of three-year-old Vismaya, supports the ban. “Children are mischievous and we cannot restrain them. What if they follow a ball and enter the zone marked 750 volts?”
Some concession is allowed in the case of balls, though. “Youths bring cricket balls and footballs from far-off places to practise at the stadiums near Cubbon Park. We let them pass,” said a Metro official. Only one Metro station displays a handwritten scrawl, ‘Balls and balloons,’ on the list of prohibited items displayed near the scanner.