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Mattar Al Tayer with senior officials and children at the cake-cutting ceremony at the head office of the transport authority. Image Credit: Courtesy: RTA

Dubai: Dozens of commuters on Dubai Metro got lucky on Tuesday as they received surprise gifts from the Roads and Transport Authority in celebration of the train network’s fifth anniversary.

Metro turned five on Tuesday and RTA instituted several competitions as well as gave surprise gifts to random passengers. Buzzers went off when lucky commuters punched their Nol cards as they entered the stations.

One such winner was Vishnu Vishwakarma from Nepal, who received a Nol Silver Card from RTA for free.

“I didn’t know what was going on. As I punched my Nol card the buzzer went off and I was looking around to find out what was happening. Then an official came and congratulated me and they gave me a Nol silver card and took down my details,” said Vishwakarma, who is a regular commuter.

RTA also organised Metro Babies and Metro Congrats Contests to mark the occasion.

The Metro Babies contest required residents who had children born on 9/9/9 to post their pictures through RTA’s social media channels and five lucky winners were selected.

Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of RTA, honoured the children who won the Metro Babies and Metro Congrats contests.

The event was held in a ceremony at RTA Head Office; which was adorned by ecstatic children along with their families.

Among the winners was Mariam Al Saadi, who won a three-night trip to Euro Disney for four family members.

Khalifa Mohammad Abdullah, Yousuf Ahmad Al Mosa, Sultan Hassan Al Khayal, and Hamdan Ebrahim won a two-night stay in hotels and resorts in the UAE.

Al Tayer also honoured the children who won the Metro Congrats contest and were awarded gold, namely, Omran Al Awadi, Abdullah Al Fardan, Isra Ashraf, Mariam Al Baluchi, and Pertical Anish.

The Metro Congrats contest required children born in 2009 to offer the best video congratulations to the Metro.