Residents demand opening of Sector 101 metro station during peak hours

Noida: Days after the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) started the ‘fast train’ service on its Aqua Line by skipping a few metro stations, a group of residents from sectors 78 and 79 on Thursday asked the corporation to open Sector 101 station during peak hours

Noida: Days after the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) started the ‘fast train’ service on its Aqua Line by skipping a few metro stations, a group of residents from sectors 78 and 79 on Thursday asked the corporation to open Sector 101 station during peak hours. The residents said that this is the nearest metro station, but now they have to walk more or get an auto to reach another metro station.

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Aimed at reducing travel time by nine minutes during peak hours, NMRC on February 8 started the fast train service on a trial basis. The service has been made available from terminal stations -- Sector 51 station in Noida and Depot station in Greater Noida -- from 8am to 11am, and 5pm to 8pm on weekdays. Out of the 21 stations on the Aqua Line, 10 stations, including Sector 101 station, have been skipped under the new system.

Brajesh Sharma, a member of 7X society welfare team, said that earlier local residents found it easy to catch a metro train from Sector 101 station. “But NMRC suddenly launched the fast Metro service whereby skipping 10 stations, including Sector 101,” he said.

The residents said that they have written to the NMRC managing director to look into the issue.

Sangeeta Lohani, a resident of Antriksh Golf View 1, a high-rise in Sector 78, said that she had shifted to Noida home five years ago. “The Sector 101 metro station is about 200 metres away from my home. There was much fanfare during the development of this housing project that the metro station will be in the neighbourhood. Now, the station is closed. What is the point of the station?” she said.

OP Sagar, another resident of Sector 78, said that he travels to Mandi House in Delhi every day. “Earlier, it was easy to get the metro at Sector 101 station. Now, I face problems in hiring an auto to reach Sector 52 metro station and then go to Delhi,” he said.

Sandhya Sharma, deputy general manager, NMRC, said that the fast train service was launched on a trial basis. “Earlier, NMRC had received feedbacks from people demanding fast metro. We launched this service and are reviewing the feedback. If there is genuine demands from certain sectors, we will review them and make suitable changes to facilitate people’s commuting,” she said.