Curious first-timers may have got reduced on the second day of the Hyderabad Metro Rail operations, but the two-lakh riders mark on the Hyderabad metro is a possibility given the fact that more than 1.3 lakh passengers took the ride between the Nagole-Ameerpet-Miyapur 30-km stretch by late evening on Thursday.
Metro Rail authorities, enthused by citizens’ response, sought to assure women and children that prime importance was being given to the safety and security of passengers at stations and inside trains, with continuous monitoring through cameras.
“There will be no compromise on safety and security. We have put systems in place to track movement of each and every person entering or exiting the station and also inside the trains. Every action is being observed in the control rooms at the stations and command and control centre at Nagole. We also have alert systems to take quick action,” said Director General of Police M. Mahender Reddy.
Maximum impact
Mr. Reddy, along with Additional DGP Anjani Kumar, Police Commissioner V.V. Srinivas Rao, HMR Managing Director N.V.S. Reddy, L&TMRH managing director Shivanand Nimbargi and others inspected the Ameerpet interchange station to review the security plan in place, before talking to the press persons.
The DGP said more than the number, the plan was to have minimum security personnel yet showing maximum impact. There are 600 police personnel apart from private security, installed by the HMR and L&TMRH, to provide security in 24 stations across 30 km.
Metro rail systems images will also be synced with the police command and control system coming up at Banjara Hills. Two special metro police stations are awaiting government approval at Ameerpet and Parade Grounds interchange stations. Mr. Nimbargi said all the stakeholders were working as a team to take care of safety and security of passengers and the processes will be updated continuously.
Parking space
“Our security is unobtrusive, but every movement is being marked. We have data stored for a fortnight. We found that, of the one lakh persons who traveled on the first day, 40,000 took selfies, 25,000 in Miyapur alone. There are 64 cameras covering the 360 degrees of the station,” said Mr. N.V.S. Reddy.
In about 10 days, parking space will be provided for bikes and cars in 12 of the 24 stations with a decision on the fees to be taken on the weekend. He also appealed to private property owners with open spaces within 100-200 yards of metro stations to lend land to HMR for parking.
