The Metro is eyeing malls to track more passengers in Gurgaon and Noida. Result: the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) has decided to connect malls to its stations in Gurgaon and Noida.

The Corporation has in any case planned the 14.47-kilometre Gurgaon stretch along malls to ensure higher footfall for both the Metro line and the commercial outlets.

As a result, DMRC will connect the Mehrauli-Gurgaon (M-G) Road Metro station, which is on the central verge, to the flanking MGF Metropolitan and DT City Centre malls, as also with the Heritage City residential complex through enclosed foot overbridges.

If this commuter circulation plan proves successful, officials said Delhi Metro will consider connecting more stations to such commercial and residential hubs.

The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) initially had plans for a subway at the M-G Road station but the civic body later approached DMRC to construct a foot overbridge. The idea, Metro officials said, was to ease commuter facilitation and also get a higher footfall. As per the Metro’s detailed project report, the M-G Road station is expected to get 5,000 passengers every day by 2011 but Delhi Metro spokesperson Anuj Dayal said such integration might bring in more passengers.

“The foot overbridge (under construction) will drop off commuters right at entrances to the malls,” he said. “Visitors to these malls can also use this to cross over as part of the overbridge falls in the station’s unpaid circulating area.”

While the normal width of stairs at other stations is kept at 2.87 metres, a wider staircase of 5.42 metres is being constructed at the M-G Road station to accommodate more pedestrians. “Even the foot overbridge has been

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