The city may have swanky infrastructure and air-conditioned metro stations, but for some commuters, old habits die hard. From spitting to littering, vomiting to damaging property, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has collected a penalty of ₹30,150 since January 2018 from erring commuters.
More than half of the fines — ₹17,900 — is for spitting within stations. BMRCL imposes a penalty ranging from ₹200 to ₹500 for various offences, including spitting, damaging property, obstructing official from discharging duty, and causing nuisance.
“Some errant passengers have a habit of spitting on walls and steps near entry points. After strict vigilance by the security, these incidents have come down,” said A.S. Shankar, Executive Director, BMRCL (operations).
Another concern for metro staff is intoxicated men, some of whom end up vomiting on platforms. An employee recalled that a drunk man was penalised for throwing up on the platform of Vidhana Soudha metro station. “The security staff took him to the controller's office. He was not allowed to travel further on metro and asked to leave the station.”
At Baiyappanahalli, the problem is littering. Hence, metro officials have fixed nets to prevent people from throwing plastic and waste on the tracks.
Of the nearly 3.80 lakh passengers using the metro trains every day, BMRCL Managing Director Mahendra Jain said that a majority cooperate with the staff. “For those who violate the rules, we have imposed penalty as per provisions of the Metro Railway (operations and maintenance) Act.”
In addition to imposing penalties, there are provisions in the Act to imprison errant people for various offences like endangering the safety of passengers, damaging metro property and carrying dangerous articles.
