Ahmedabad, Oct 14 (IANS) Ahmedabad Metro services will run until 2 a.m. from October 14 to 19 to facilitate late-night travel during Navratri, with passengers required to purchase a special Rs 50 paper ticket for journeys during the extended operating hours, the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) said on Wednesday.
Metro services currently operate from 6:20 a.m. to 11 p.m. Under the revised schedule, trains on the Vastral Gam–Thaltej Gam and APMC–Koteshwar Road corridors will run at intervals of 30 minutes, while services on the APMC–Sector-1 corridor will operate at hourly intervals during the specified late-night period.
On the Vastral Gam–Thaltej Gam corridor, the last trains will depart from Vastral Gam at 2 a.m. and from Thaltej Gam at 2:12 a.m. On the APMC–Koteshwar Road corridor, the last departures will be at 2:14 a.m. from APMC and 2:07 a.m. from Koteshwar Road.
On the APMC–Sector-1 corridor, the last scheduled departures will be at 12:44 a.m. from APMC and 12:38 a.m. from Sector-1.
The extended schedule for this corridor includes departures at 10:30 p.m., 11:44 p.m. and 12:44 a.m. from APMC, and at 10:38 p.m., 11:38 p.m. and 12:38 a.m. from Sector-1.
GMRC said only the special paper ticket, priced at Rs 50, would be valid for travel during the extended operating hours. The tickets will be available at all metro stations and can be used for a single journey only.
Meanwhile, Ahmedabad Police said traffic congestion remained limited during the first three days of Navratri, although some congestion was reported at night on SG Highway, Ring Road and major junctions after garba programmes ended.
According to the police, the city control room is monitoring traffic through 4,300 cameras, comprising 3,300 cameras installed under the Smart City Project and 1,000 under the Nirbhaya Project.
The police received three traffic congestion-related calls on October 11, nine on October 12 and five on October 13. The response time to these calls was less than 10 minutes. In comparison, around 45 such calls were received during the first three days of Navratri last year.
The police attributed the reduction in calls to traffic regulation, road engineering measures and public cooperation.
For the festival, the city police deployed 49 SHE Team vehicles, 12 Abhayam helpline vehicles, 49 special garba vehicles and 129 patrolling vehicles, including Janrakshak Dial 112 vehicles.
"During the first three days, four women who sought assistance were picked up from locations specified by them and safely dropped at their homes," the police said.
The SHE teams also conducted visits to major garba venues and street garba events, besides inspecting CCTV control rooms and using body-worn cameras.
On October 11, the teams visited 67 major garba venues and 341 street garba events, using 57 body-worn cameras and making 54 visits to CCTV control rooms.
On October 12, they visited 80 major venues and 357 street events, used 73 body-worn cameras and made 54 CCTV control room visits.
On October 13, they visited 80 major venues and 326 street events, used 60 body-worn cameras and made 60 CCTV control room visits.
The teams also reunited seven children, including five boys and two girls, with their families after they became separated from their parents or lost their way during the celebrations.
The incidents included two girls separated from their father at GMDC Ground and a child separated from his parents at TransStadia Eka Club on the first day.
On the second day, the Naroda SHE team helped a girl who had lost her way in the GIDC area, while the West Women's Police Station team reunited a girl found alone at a party plot in Isanpur with her family.
On the third day, the Vejalpur SHE team handed a boy found alone to his maternal uncle, while the Women's Cell team reunited a child separated from his family at a party plot in the Sola area.
--IANS
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