Coughing Mana Hai in Bangalore Metro, says BMRCL

Bangalore, Oct 19: Just a day away for Namma Metro to chug in Bangalore, a recent report has claimed that the authorities concerned have drafted a list of those who can board the train and those who cannot. According to the list, an innocent sneeze or cough will make you ineligible to take the dream ride on the Metro with the staff likely to ask you to step out of the train in such a circumstance.

This move by Metro officials hopes to provide a healthy and safe environment in and around the Namma Metro for passengers. With this the security personnel stationed in the Metro stations can stop you from boarding the train if you happen to cough or sneeze. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) does not want to take a chance and wants to prevent contagious disease from spreading within the hygienic metro trains. BMRCL believes that if a passenger is affected by such an infection it is likely to spread to others as well.

Hence, commuters enduring Cerebro-spinal meningitis, chicken pox, cholera, diphtheria, measles, mumps, scarlet fever, typhus fever, typhoid fever and severer-cough are not eligible to travel in the brand new gleaming Metro.

However, there is concession for closed, non-infective, leprosy patients in draft rules. They will be allowed to travel only if they provide a certificate from a registered medical practitioner, certifying them to be 'non-infective".

However, a volley of doubts and questions have started to creep in on such a policy. The first question that strikes all is whether the idea is practical and can be put in practice in a country like India? First impressions suggest that this is not a logical idea to be implemented and that which will not be welcomed by majority of Bangaloreans.

Considered a discriminatory move, when people suffering from fever and cough are easily allowed to travel in other means of public transports, visit crowded places, they are barred from entering the Metro. With BMRCL already irking the public with this bizarre idea, the usual cough and cold gets a heightened meaning in the context.

So if you are excited about the launch of the Bangalore Metro on Thursday, Oct 20 and are eagerly awaiting a ride on it, consider having a health checkup to avoid being evicted on your dream ride on the swanky new Metro.

OneIndia News