New Delhi, March 29
Metro passengers on line 3/4 (Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida City Centre and Yamuna Bank to Vaishali) had a harrowing time today with the services being hit for almost six hours.

Thousands of passengers were left stranded at various stations during morning office hours after the services got affected due to track circuit (signaling) failure near the Pragati Maidan station.

As a result, the trains going towards Dwarka from Noida City Centre and Vaishali moved on a restricted speed of up to 25 km per hour between Pragati Maidan and Mandi House from 8.45 am to 2.12 pm. The normal speed of a Metro train is 35-40 km per hour.

"We are already facing a lot of troubles due to the strict security checks and traffic restrictions for the BRICS Summit and to top it all, now the Metro services are also hit. This is a major line that connects both Noida and Ghaziabad to Delhi and there is a huge backlog on both the corridors. There are women and children in crowd too," said a commuter at the Yamuna Bank station.

"The signal failure led to the bunching of trains in the Noida City Centre-Indraprastha and the Yamuna Bank-Vaishali sections. However, the service between Dwarka Sector 21 and Barakhamba Road remained normal during this period. The track circuit problem was rectified at 2.12 pm and normalcy was restored immediately," said a DMRC spokesperson, explaining about the problem.

Priyanka Pandey, who had to attend the inauguration of her office at Janakpuri got late by almost four hours.

"I am very upset. The one mode of transport I thought I could rely on failed me today. It was tough and the function had to be postponed to the evening because I couldn't reach on time," she said.

What annoyed Metro commuters more was the penalty for overstaying on the network for no fault of theirs. Commuters have to pay a penalty if they don't exit at stations 170 minutes after they board a train.

"The delayed stay on the network wasn't by our will. Still we had to pay the penalty. We have already suffered by getting late for our destinations and instead of any consolation, our pockets are axed. I am disappointed with the Metro. I use to prefer it over my car, but today, everything just went haywire. These problems have started occurring very often now," said Kirti Thakkar, a five-star hotel marketing employee.

New Delhi, March 29
Tibetan activists today surprised the Delhi police when they protested near the Taj Palace Hotel, the venue for the BRICS Summit that has a heavy security blanket around it.

Twelve activists of the Students for a Free Tibet-India and Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Dharamsala, were arrested from a footbridge near the Taj Palace Hotel for protesting against Chinese President's visit. They had unfurled a flag that read "Hu Jintao: China's failed leader. Free Tibet."

The activists tried to march towards the summit venue, but were detained. Some of them had painted slogans like "free Tibet", "criminal Hu" and "swaraj my birth right" on their bodies.

"Hu Jintao's failed leadership has brought nothing but increased repression and military control over Tibet and he must be held accountable for human rights atrocities carried out by him," said Tenzin Yonten, an activist of the Students for a Free Tibet-India.

Joint commissioner of police (central range) Taj Hassan said, "We have placed about 12-15 Tibetan activists under preventive arrest. They were released today. We have presently detained over 300 Tibetan activists. Their protests are unexpected because they usually come one by one or in groups of two to four. Also, it is difficult to distinguish between Tibetans and people from the northeast and Nepal. Although the summit ended today and the foreign leaders will leave tomorrow, we will remove the restrictions till the problem is over."

Meanwhile, Tibetans also protested at their preferred haunts like Jantar Mantar and near the Chinese Embassy.

"We plan to conduct more protests to oppose Hu Jintao and present our views on the Chinese oppression in Tibet," said Dorjee Tseten, National Director of Students for Free Tibet.

The fresh protests are a consequence of the death of Jamphel Yeshi (27), who had immolated himself at Jantar Mantar on March 26 to show his angst against the alleged Chinese oppression. His last words were "Tibet belongs to Tibetans. Victory to Tibet!"

Yeshi's body was taken to Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, where his last rites would be conducted.

New Delhi, March 29
In three separate road accidents in Delhi, a 30-year-old man was killed and three persons were injured.

The first incident occurred at Gandhi Nagar in East Delhi. Santosh Kumar (30) was killed when an unidentified vehicle rammed into him yesterday. He was a resident of Geeta Colony.

Kumar was employed as a pick-up van driver. He had left for his work when the incident occurred near Pushta Road at 8 am yesterday.

A case of a hit-and-run accident has been registered at the Gandhi Nagar police station.

In the second incident, two men were injured when four vehicles collided with each other at Hauz Khas in South Delhi this morning.

The incident occurred when a private water tanker rammed into a Wagon-R car near the Chirag Dilli flyover at 8.30 am. Two other vehicles, immediately behind the tanker, collided with it.

According to the police, the drivers of the tanker and the Wagon-R sustained injuries and were taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre.

A case of rash and negligent driving has been registered against the driver of the water tanker at the Hauz Khas police station.

In the third incident, a five-year-old boy was injured when a speeding motor-cycle rammed into him yesterday. He was playing outside his house at Fatehpur Beri in South Delhi.

Mohit Mishra has been admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre and is in a critical condition.