BENGALURU: Friday turned out to be a bizarre day at Kempe Gowda Interchange Metro station with three unusual incidents of passenger misbehaviour reported. Two passengers ended up being booked, one for Rs 1,000, and one family was let off after a strong warning.
According to Metro sources, the first incident occurred at 8.45 am on Platform 2, where trains coming from Mysuru Road to Kempe Gowda stop. An escalator reset in a different direction upset a commuter H Basavaraj terribly. “Due to the heavy crowd which surges from a six-car Metro train on this platform during peak hours, the programmable UP and DOWN escalators are generally both reset in the UP direction to benefit passengers heading to Platform 1,” said an official. Same was done on Friday.
Basavaraj, who wanted to use the DOWN escalator, did not like this. “He started abusing a Station Controller on the platform. Basavaraj was brought to the Station Controller’s room and booked under Section 68 of Metro Rail Act for obstructing an officer on duty,” the official explained. He was penalised `1,000.
Later, a youngster chose to jump over the Automated Fare Collection gates at the station instead of using his Metro token. “He did it for fun. While some passengers attempt to tailgate through a gate without buying a token, incidents of high jump are rare.” His jump cost him Rs 200.
The final incident of the day around 6.30 pm involved a four-member family heading from Peenya Metro station to Baiyappanahalli who alighted at Platform 4 of the station.
Ramesh along with his wife Roopa and two daughters had asked a Home Guard there for directions.”She asked us to go up to reach Platform One,” Ramesh told this reporter. However, instead of going to the topmost deck, the family reached just one floor above and went past the exit gates after dropping their tokens. “We were told to buy tokens again if we wanted to cross the gate and go to Baiyappanahalli. We have already paid for it, why should we pay again?” he asked.
The couple used swear words at a different woman security guard near the exit gate and a staffer at the ticket counter very loudly creating a scene.
“The family was taken to the Control Room where a major altercation took place for half an hour. Ideally, they need to be penalised `1,000 for the nuisance. The couple pleaded they were not financially well off and apologised profusely. Finally, they were let off with a severe warning,” another official said.