File photo of Delhi metro.
Aiming to reduce congestion in the main concourse of the Rajiv Chowk Metro Station, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) from tomorrow will open the Viewers Gallery, the unpaid area of the busy intersection, to allow its passengers to move over the tracks without crossing the foot-over-bridge.
"It has been decided to open the gallery, part of the unpaid area of the Rajiv Chowk Metro station for the passengers from tomorrow. The move is aimed at facilitating smooth movement of passengers from one side of the station to another so as to avoid unnecessary congestion inside the paid area," a senior DMRC official said.
Rajiv Chowk located underneath the busy Connaught Place market in central Delhi gets an average daily footfall of 5 lakh and faces congestion situation quite regularly, causing discomfort to passengers.
Of all the interchange stations, Rajiv Chowk is the busiest and the only one which has a Visitor's Gallery, which is a round passageway running along the walls on the first floor level of the station. The gallery overlooks the Central Park outside.
The metro station has eight entry gates numbering from 1 to 8. Passengers entering from Gate No. 1 to 4 (Towards B & D Block of Rajiv Chowk) reach Platform No. 3 of the station for going towards Noida/Vaishali. Whereas, passengers entering from Gate No. 5 to 8 (Towards A & F Block of Rajiv Chowk) reach Platform No. 4 of the station for going towards Dwarka.
"It has been observed that generally 70 per cent of the passengers i.e. about 35,000 passengers land up at Dwarka side platform and then cross the foot-over-bridge to go towards Noida/Vaishali side platform. This was causing unnecessary congestion on A and F block entries of the station whereas, B and D block entries is hardly being used and also causing unnecessary criss-cross movement of passengers on foot-over-bridge and within the paid area of the station," the official said.