After two months and 17 days of closure, Metrorail's Mirpur-10 station is opening on Tuesday.
Managing Director Mohammad Abdur Rauf gave this information at the administrative building of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) in Diabari, Uttara on Monday (October 14).
He said, after two months and 17 days, the Mirpur-10 station of Metrorail is being opened from Tuesday morning. However, he could not give specific information about how much has been spent to make the station usable again.
DMTCL MD said, don't ask the question of how much the cost is now. We are working on this.
A police box was set on fire at Mirpur-10 Roundabout on July 18 during the anti-discrimination student movement. The authorities stopped the movement of metro rail at 5 pm that day. The next day, Mirpur-10 and Kazipara stations were vandalized. On July 20, the then Managing Director of DMTCL, MAN Siddique, visited the site and said, 'It may take up to a year to repair and re-open the two damaged stations.
On July 27, then Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, however, told reporters that Kazipara and Mirpur-10 Metrorail stations were destroyed. Experts said, it will not be possible to bring the equipment and make it operational even in a year.
Kazipara station was opened two months after the change of government. And within two months and 17 days, Mirpur-10 station is also going to be operational.
According to DMTCL sources, during the time of the then government, the cost of repairing the two Metrorail stations was estimated at Tk. 350 crore. However, the repair of Kazipara station has cost Tk. 20 lakh 26 thousand. And the amount of money spent on the repair of Mirpur-10 station has not been revealed yet. But the cost is said to be very little.
It is known that at Mirpur-10 station automatic ticket vending machines, computers, automatic entry and exit gates, electronic screen of the station and some glass were damaged. Some tools and materials were purchased from the local market. However, ticket machines and fare-paying entry and exit gates are not available in local markets. Importing is time consuming.
The concerned officials said that ticket machines and gates have been installed from Uttara Centre, Uttara South and Vijay Sarani stations. Passenger pressure at these stations is relatively less. Some have been transferred from the multiple machines and gates there.
Besides, there were eight gates in the exhibition center inside the Metrorail depot in Uttara, they were brought and installed. Later, gates and ticket machines will be installed in those places by importing.