India News | Kolkata Metro Relaxes Entry Norms for Senior Citizens

Kolkata, Sep 15 (PTI) Kolkata Metro on Tuesday relaxed its norms for senior citizens, allowing them to board trains without an e-pass during non-peak hours, provided they furnish identity proof at the gates.

The rapid transit system, which resumed passenger services on Monday after about six months, issued a notification, stating that senior citizens won't have to procure the digital boarding pass and will be permitted to enter the station and approach ticket counters for smart cards, after producing necessary documents.

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The facility will be available for them from 11:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Several elderly persons in the city have complained that they were finding it difficult to download e-passes from 'Pathadisha', the Metro Railway app.

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"Senior citizens have expressed their difficulty in reserving the slot through the bot.

"Considering their difficulty, it has been decided by competent authority that the requirement of e-pass will be relaxed for senior citizens, who will be allowed entry into metro station on the basis of Aadhar card/PAN card/voter id/passport/driving license, through which age can be ascertained," the notification said.

Manoj Joshi, the general manager of Kolkata Metro, said arrangements would be made at the entry points to ensure that no one takes advantage of the norm relaxation, which is strictly meant for senior citizens.

Around 20,500 passengers travelled on the Kolkata Metro in a span of 12 hours from 8 am on Monday, maintaining safety protocols.

Trains halted at stations for 30 seconds instead of 20 seconds, as was the practice, to avoid rush during boarding and deboarding, a Metro Railway spokesperson said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)