As many as 4 lakh passengers availed the Hyderabad Metro Rail on Ganesh immersion day on Friday, September 9. Hyderabad Metro Rail officials said on Saturday that a large number of people attending immersion celebrations in different parts of the city availed of the service. This is the highest footfall in a day since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hyderabad Metro had extended train services for the convenience of devotees attending the celebrations. Metro stations in all three corridors saw a huge rush of passengers. Over 2.46 lakh passengers availed of the services on the Miyapur-LB Nagar corridor while the Nagole-Raidurgam corridor witnessed a footfall of 1.49 lakh.
A total of 22,000 passengers travelled on the Jubilee Bus Station-Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station corridor. Among all stations, Khairatabad handled the maximum number of passengers as it was the nearest point for those attending the immersion procession at Hussain Sagar lake and also those offering the last puja to the tallest Ganesh idol at Khairatabad. This station saw the exit of 40,000 passengers and the entry of 22,500 travellers.
The average daily ridership on Hyderabad Metro is about 3.78 lakh while it was over 4 lakh before COVID-19. In view of immersion festivities, Hyderabad Metro had extended operating hours till 2 am. The normal operating hours are from 6 am to 11.15 pm. Hyderabad Metro Rail, said to be among the world's largest public-private partnership projects, covers 69.2 km on all three corridors.
Elaborate security arrangements were made by the police to oversee the smooth conduct of Ganesh immersion in the city on Friday. State government sources said the number of idols immersed would be over 50,000 with several unregistered pandals, according to PTI. A press release from Cyberabad Police said about 8,000 police personnel were deployed for the immersion programme under its limits. Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said over 5,000 police personnel were deployed for the grand event.