Gurugram’s Rapid Metro has found itself in the middle of a controversy involving its staff allegedly denying entry to four to six poor children for being shabbily dressed.
The children were around eight years old. The incident was publicised by a commuter, Shivanya Pandey, who posted about it on Facebook and emailed a complaint to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
4-6 begger kids have been Denied entry in rapid metro station just now Indusind Bank Cybercity Metro just because they…
Posted by Shivanya Pandey on Monday, May 1, 2017
The Ministry assured Shivanya that the matter would be looked into and strict action would be taken.
Meanwhile, Rapid Metro spokesperson said the whole incident was a misunderstanding. A spokesperson said the kids had only been turned away because they could not buy tickets. “They were politely asked to go because they did not have the money for the fare. The criteria for travel in the Metro system, as per guidelines laid down by Metro Act, is for commuters to be able to furnish requisite fare either by token or valid travel card as well as comply with security guidelines. In this instance, the criteria wasn’t met. Rapid Metro does not discriminate towards any citizen and our teams are trained to treat all citizen commuters with respect and dignity.”
However, Shivanya says the officials are lying and the kids had offered payment but were denied entry as they were sweating and poorly dressed.
Speaking to The Logical Indian, Shivanya said, “I was present at ticket counter and it happened before me. The Metro doesn’t allow photography or videography so nobody could capture the incident on camera. However, it should be on CCTV cameras for sure. The children had money in hand but the guards didn’t let them reach the ticket counter. The oldest child in the group was showing money in hand, I saw it. But still they were denied entry – even though they had money.”
This is getting ugly now. So Indusind Bank Cybercity Metro official accepted of denying entery to the kids but there…
Posted by Shivanya Pandey on Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Meanwhile, Maneka Gandhi, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development, took to Facebook and Twitter to voice her disapproval and to highlight the need of sensitisation when it comes to treatment of poor children.
Widespread Sensitization is required to curb incidents of discrimination against poor children.A Facebook Post stated…
Posted by Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Mrs Gandhi said she had written to Mangu Singh, MD, Delhi Metro Rail Corp Lt., to look into the matter and ensure that such incidents are not repeated.
The Logical Indian take
The incident is truly troubling; if in fact the kids were sent away simply because they were sweating and shabbily dressed, it was a disgraceful thing.
The Logical Indian community, while applauding Shivanya and Maneka Gandhi for their swift responses, hopes that those responsible are held accountable and all of us need to be sensitised, so we don’t discriminate against anyone. We don’t notice but we practice discrimination daily and want to build a wall around ourselves which won’t allow us to see the poor and the poverty. The kind of impression this incident would have made in the impressionable mind of the kid is very damaging. We should work towards a nation which is free from all kinds of discrimination.