Pratham Alo contacted DMTCL Public Relations Officer Nazmul Islam Bhuiya on duty on Monday today when the news of disruption in metro rail service surfaced. But he could not give any information about the delay. He said that he will inform as soon as he gets any update.
However, he was not available for more than an hour after that. Later, at around 9:00 am, he told this reporter that the service was stopped due to some problems in power supply. Another Prothom Alo reporter tried to contact several DMTCL officials over the phone, including the managing director, but no one answered.
Passengers do not have the option to get any relevant information in most cases. Even the officials present at the station are unable to provide accurate information.
The weather in the capital has been bad since morning due to the impact of cyclone Remal. There are reports of power supply disruption due to strong winds. Daily commuters complain that if there was a possibility of service disruption due to any adverse conditions, the authorities should have informed in advance so that people could be saved from trouble.
* This report was published in the online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu.