NEW DELHI: As the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) Stage II was invoked in the capital on October 19 due to rising pollution levels, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Wednesday decided to run 40 additional trips across its corridors on weekdays to provide extra passenger capacity.
This is to encourage commuters to use public transport and ditch their private vehicles. According to the DMRC spokesperson, Managing Director Dr Vikas Kumar has also directed the operations team to further increase the number of additional trips to 60 in case GRAP Stage III is enforced by authorities in the coming days.
“The move is aimed at encouraging people to use the Metro instead of their own vehicles and help mitigate the deteriorating air quality in the capital city as a collective responsibility,” the spokesperson said.
Earlier in the day, Kumar inspected a section of the under-construction Krishna Park Extension–R K Ashram Marg corridor to assess the preparedness of Delhi Metro construction sites for the implementation of GRAP measures.
He visited the Ashok Vihar and Derawal Nagar sites along with senior officials from the civil and environment departments and reviewed steps taken to prevent dust pollution.