Bengaluru Metro breakdown forces commuters to hitchhike on lorries; Tejasvi Surya slams Congress govt

APerturbation on Bengaluru's Namma subway system purpurate run along during top evening hours on Tuesday left hundreds of commuters stranded, with videos showing people climbing onto lorries and trucks to get home amid a shortage of alternative transport options.The incident triggered sharp criticism from BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, who blamed repeated metro disruptions and poor urban governance for the chaos.Sharing a video of stranded commuters hitchhiking on lorries, Surya wrote on X, "First-world tech talent. Third-world governance. That is the story of Bengaluru."The Bengaluru South MP said metro disruptions had become "alarmingly frequent" and argued that every breakdown throws the city's transport network into disarray."Yesterday, hardworking professionals in India's Silicon Valley were forced to hitch rides on trucks and lorries just to get home after work. They will wake up tomorrow, go back to office, pay their taxes, and endure the same broken system all over again," he said.Also Read: ‘Inconvenience’, ‘half-truths’: Tejasvi Surya vs Priyank Kharge over Congress rally ‘disrupting’ NEET exam in Bengaluru Metro services on the Purple Line were affected on Tuesday evening after a technical snag developed in a train at Cubbon Park Metro Station during peak commuting hours.The disruption led to heavy crowding at several stations, including Cubbon Park and MG Road, as office-goers headed home. With metro services affected, many commuters were forced to seek alternative modes of transport, including autos and app-based cabs, while others resorted to hitching rides on passing vehicles.The Namma Metro Purple Line connects Whitefield (Kadugodi) in east Bengaluru with Challaghatta in the southwest and is one of the city's busiest metro corridors.Responding to the disruption, Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said on Wednesday that the technical issue at Cubbon Park Metro Station had been successfully rectified and normal services on the Purple Line had resumed.The incident also drew a reaction from Bengaluru Central MP PC Mohan, who said the disruption had exposed shortcomings in the city's urban mobility planning.Also Read: Metro services resume on Purple Line after BMRCL rectifies technical snag "Yesterday's disruption to the Bengaluru Metro Purple Line exposed a serious gap in urban mobility preparedness. When one mode fails, other public transport services must seamlessly absorb demand. Governance is judged not on routine days, but by its response in times of crisis," Mohan said in a post on X.