Following commuters’ demand, the authorities allowed them to board the train without buying tickets and the f... Read More

BENGALURU: The Dr BR Ambedkar station near Vidhana Soudha was the most crowded Metro station on Wednesday as thousands of supporters of JD(S) and Congress used the service to attend the oath-taking ceremony at Vidhana Soudha.

Hours before the ceremony and for sometime after the event, the station was jampacked with commuters, catching Metro authorities off-guard in managing them. Huge crowds were also seen at Cubbon Park and Sir M Visvesvaraya stations too. After the ceremony got over around 5pm, the number of commuters started swelling again at the underground Vidhana Soudha station. Chaos prevailed for over an hour as the queue for tickets as well as entry gates lengthened.

Though there was a separate line made for women, not many followed it. Following commuters’ demand, the authorities allowed them to board the train without buying tickets and the fare was collected at stations where they exited.

Prashanth K, a regular commuter, said his Metro train took an extended halt up to 3-5 minutes to enable more people to board. “Many commuters travelled without tickets. Some argued with guards at exit stations that they boarded at the previous station and paid less,” he added.

Supporters and fans of chief minister HD Kumaraswamy holding handbills shouted slogans such as ‘Kumarannange Jai’. They all expressed confidence of HDK completing five years and that he would get re-elected in the next assembly elections as well.

