Bengaluru, Sep 6 (IANS): Bengaluru Metro rail has made it compulsory for passengers to use their recharged smart cards loaded with money at least one in the initial seven days or the amount will relapse, an official said on Sunday.

"At least once it has to be used in seven days, otherwise the money will lapse. That is because of the technical requirement," a Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) official told IANS.

However, after meeting the requirement of using at least once in the first seven days, the recharged money will be saved for a period of 10 years to be used anytime.

"We are coming with a new mobile app and this is the technical rule which has come out. After using, you can leave the money in the card and it stays there for 10 years," he said.

In the old system, passengers were allowed to use their smart cards within a span of 60 days after topping it up online.

"Consequent to introduction of mobile app, this is now revised to seven days," he said in the standard operating procedures on restarting the metro.

Bengaluru Metro is geared up to resume its service in phases from Monday under the new guidelines to contain the pandemic.