A Right to Information (RTI) reply has revealed that about Rs 38 lakh was collected as fines by the Delhi Metro in over 11 months from the commuters caught sitting on the floor of the train.
"I just don't have the strength to stand after a long day at work," said Dipika Bhatia, a daily commuter from Dwarka to Noida, who takes around 1.5 hours to reach home by metro, admitting to knowing the rules and its penalty.
While some passengers say they don't understand the reason behind people being fined for sitting on the floor, few tend to side with the DMRC.
"There are seats. If people are feeling unwell, they can ask people to get up. I have seen that most people vacate seats if you have a genuine reason," said Saranya Kumar, a frequent commuter on the Yellow Line to Gurgaon, adding that it gets very difficult to accommodate people during rush hours when commuters are sitting on the floor of the train.
Talking about the condition of anonymity a DMRC driver said that people sitting on the floor also affect boarding and deboarding and causes delays.
The query was filed by a PTI correspondent to which the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation responded by saying that out of Rs. 89,94,380 fine that was collected from June last year till May this year, the highest amount, Rs. 38 lakh, was collected for squatting on the floor.
The DMRC said that 51,441 people were fined in this duration for offences, including littering, creating a nuisance, travelling with undervalued tokens and obstructing officials on duty. Other offences which brought in fines included carrying away tokens, carrying offensive material, unlawful entry and walking on metro tracks.
The Delhi Metro's Blue Line (Dwarka to Noida/Vaishali) and Yellow Line (Samaypur Badli to Huda City Centre) are two of the oldest and the busiest lines of the network, of which the later saw the maximum fine being collected, about Rs. 39,20,220.
