All ASCRM machines on the Blue Line (Dakshineswar-New Garia) of the Kolkata Metro will now have the UPI facility.
Kolkata: In a major development in the Kolkata Metro, the UPI payment-based ticketing system has been introduced in all automatic smart card recharge machines (ASCRM) at all stations of the North-South corridor connecting the two outskirts of the city. The decision has been taken after the successful implementation of UPI on Howrah Maidan-Esplanade and Sector V-Sealdah corridors of the East-West Metro line.
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The Metro Railway Kolkata said in a statement on Sunday that all ASCRM machines on the Blue Line (Dakshineswar-New Garia) now have this facility so more and more commuters are purchasing tokens or recharging their smart cards from these machines without any hassle.
“… if a commuter wants to travel to DumDum he has to type the first letter of the station i.e. D only on the screen then an auto-pop-up will come on the screen showing all the station’s name starting with D. After that, he/she needs to select the station name on the screen and then the payment page will appear. On the payment page, option of UPI Payment will be displayed and then after selecting the UPI Payment option required payment can be made by scanning the QR code with the help of smart phone,” it said.
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This ticketing system has already been introduced at all stations on Green Line 1 and Green Line 2.
Seeing the huge response of Metro users, authorities are contemplating extending this alternative ticketing facility to the Ruby-New Garia and Joka-Taratala sections as well for the benefit of the commuters soon, it said.
Metro Railway authorities, with the help of the State Bank of India and Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), have introduced this Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based Based Ticketing System.
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Kolkata Airport Gets New Director
Pravat Ranjan Beuria took charge as the new director of Kolkata airport, a statement said on Sunday.
Beuria, who took charge on Saturday, previously served as the airport director of Bhubaneswar, Jammu, Ranchi and Leh, it said. In his last assignment, he was the general manager (engg-civil) at Gwalior airport, it added.
Beuria said he would take measures for the improvement of passenger facilities and expedite the work of metro rail connectivity to the airport.
He took over from C Pattabhi, who had been transferred to New Delhi as the executive director (CNS) at the Flight Inspection Unit. Kolkata Airport is the sixth busiest airport in India, with a daily air traffic of more than 400 flights.
(With inputs from agencies)
