Bengaluru metro to be open till 2 am on New Year’s Day

Officials said those found causing trouble will be restricted from using the metro services.

news Transportation

The Bengaluru Metro will be operational till 2 am on New Year’s Day, an official with the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) confirmed.

The official stated that security measures will be in place at all metro stations but added that there are no plans to restrict passengers who are inebriated from boarding trains.

There will be no breathanalyser tests conducted on metro users. However, those found causing trouble will be restricted from using the metro services, said the official.

“If people create any nuisance, they will be removed from the metro station. There is a separate coach for women in six-coach metro and they can make use of that,” a BMRCL official told TNM.

New Year’s Eve celebrations in Bengaluru’s MG Road and Brigade Road attract thousands of people from across the city. These two prominent roads are closed for traffic and are turned into a pedestrian zone for the New Year celebrations.

The Hindu Janajagruthi Samiti, in a letter to Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao requested the police to ban the celebrations alleging that it is causing “moral degradation of India’s youth”.

Ahead of this year’s festivities in the city, a number of safety measures have been introduced including CCTV cameras, drones, watch towers and LED screens in specific areas. Tents with two or three police officers including a woman police officer will also be set up so that the public can report any case of harassment or crime easily. These tents will be coming up in areas in Bengaluru’s Central Business District.

Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao, appearing live on social media, said that police officers including DCPs will be doing rounds on New Year’s Eve and that drunk-driving checks will be conducted on motorists in the city. Personnel from Civil Defence, City Armed Reserve Police and Karnataka State Reserve Police will also be deployed in the city.