Nearly a year has passed after services in the first underground stretch of the Chennai Metro Rail between Thirumangalam and Nehru Park began. Still, there is no mobile connectivity for commuters.
Officials of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) had earlier said the mobile transmitters have been installed and connectivity will be established by February. Till this date, commuters continue to suffer without mobile network. “We have been doing tests for quite sometime now to check how the system works. It should be implemented any time soon,” an official said.
CMRL sources, however, said that the focus now was on beginning operations in two stretches — Nehru Park to Chennai Central and Saidapet to AG-DMS — and hence, there could be a delay in providing mobile connectivity in the underground stretches, including the new ones.
Gopal Santhanam, a resident of Triplicane, said, “I have been waiting to travel from Chennai Central to my office in Nanganallur through the Chennai Metro Rail. But, I will be greatly disappointed if they don’t have mobile connectivity underground after the Chennai Central is opened. Almost everyone owns a smartphone. We will feel restless if there is no connectivity.”
Rathna Sankar is a person who travels regularly from Meenambakkam to Nehru Park to visit her relative. “If I want to make a call, I’m not able to do so. They should do something about it soon,” she said.
