Delhi Metro records over 69 lakh passenger journeys on June 28 amid heavy rains

New Delhi [India], June 29 (ANI): Despite heavy rains lashing the national capital over the past few days, the Delhi Metro saw a significant surge in passenger journeys.

On Friday, June 28, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) reported over 69 lakh passenger journeys.

"The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) recorded over 69 lakh passenger journeys on Friday, even as the Metro services operated without any disruption with a punctuality of 99.95 per cent despite the heavy rains that lashed the city and it's peripheries," DMRC said in a post on X.

According to DMRC, the exact number of passenger journeys on Friday was 69,36,425. This was a notable increase from the previous day, Thursday, June 27, 2024, which saw 62,58,072 passenger journeys.

"On Friday, 28th June 2024, the passenger journeys recorded by DMRC was 69,36,425. A day earlier on Thursday (27th June 2024) the passenger journeys were 62,58,072," DMRC said.

"Therefore, on Friday the Delhi Metro recorded an increase of almost 7 lakh additional passenger journeys which indicates that a lot of passengers preferred to use the Metro instead of their private vehicles or other modes of travel due to the heavy rainfall in the city," the tweet added.

Earlier, Two boys died allegedly due to drowning near the rainwater-flooded Siraspur underpass in northwest Delhi's Samaypur Badli area on Saturday, police said.

As per Delhi Police, a call about the drowning of a 12-year-old boy near Siraspur underpass was received at Samaypur Badli Police Station at 2:25 PM. On reaching the spot, it was seen that the underpass near the metro was flooded with almost 2.5-3 feet of water.

"The fire brigade conducted a search operation and recovered the bodies of 2 boys. Prime facie, this appears to be a case of suspected drowning while the boys were taking a bath," police said."174 CrPC proceedings are underway," it added.

Earlier on Friday, two children who had left their homes to play in rainwater drowned after falling in a deep rainwater ditch in the New Usmanpur area of Delhi, police said.

The deceased were aged 8 and 10 years old and were residents of Som Bazaar, Gamri, in the New Usmanpur area.

Heavy rains lashed parts of Delhi-NCR for the second consecutive day on Friday, causing waterlogging, traffic jams, rain-related accidents, casualties, and injuries that prompted the government to take measures to tackle the situation. The national capital and adjoining areas also received rainfall on Saturday.

Meanwhile, India Meteorological Department (IMD) scientist Soma Sen told ANI that heavy rainfall is expected in Delhi over the next two days.

"Rain is expected to increase in the coming days in North India. Monsoon has advanced more in Eastern UP, and in the next 2-3 days, Western UP and Haryana will also be covered. An orange alert has been issued for UP, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and East Rajasthan. Heavy rain will be witnessed in the entire central India. Warnings have been issued for Arunachal Pradesh and Assam for extremely heavy rainfall. Rainfall will increase in the West Peninsular region by tomorrow. North Indian states will also witness extremely heavy rainfall. We have declared heavy rainfall in Delhi over the next two days," Sen said.

On Saturday, bodies of three labourers were also pulled out from under the rubble of a wall that collapsed at a construction site amid heavy rain in Vasant Vihar. The bodies of the labourers who had fallen into a pit of an under-construction building in Vasant Vihar were pulled out by personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team. (ANI)