Metro bans pets, liquor bottles

The Delhi Metro has banned spirits and inflammable liquids in all forms, including sealed liquor bottles, objects such as knives, cutleries, cleavers and animals of any kind in its trains in Delhi and NCR. Leena Dhankhar and Subhendu Ray reports.

The Delhi Metro has banned spirits and inflammable liquids in all forms, including sealed liquor bottles, objects such as knives, cutleries, cleavers and animals of any kind in its trains in Delhi and NCR.

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Until a fortnight ago, there was no official ban on taking pets along in trains. But all this has changed; even sealed liquor bottles won't be allowed inside stations now.

A DMRC spokesperson told HT that keeping security issues in mind, the corporation on January 4 decided to enforce a ban on several items under four categories inside the Metro trains.

"Some arms and ammunition were already banned. Now the list has become exhaustive."

"Commuters cannot carry any kind of inflammables, including sealed liquor bottles, dangerous objects including knives, swords, khukris and arms and ammunitions, realistic replicas of guns and sports guns and pets inside Metro trains," the spokesperson said.

The corporation, however, did not recommend any penalty for carrying these items as commuters with such items won't be allowed to enter the station.

Udayan Banerjee, DIG (Delhi Metro), CISF, confirmed, "Over a fortnight back, we received a circular from DMRC, asking us to stop commuters from carrying sealed liquor bottles."

Ever since DMRC asked the CISF to enforce the new directive, many unaware commuters have got into arguments with security personnel over this.Often, people carry liquor bottles, especially on their way back home from work, with them inside the Metro. They have argued that there is no merit in the new directive.

Manish Ahlawat (26), a bank executive in Gurgaon, wanted to gift a liquor bottle to a friend he was meeting after five years. But CISF personnel did not let him enter the Sikanderpur Metro station on Thursday evening. "Why did the frisking take place only after purchasing the token? I waited for 15 minutes to buy the Metro ticket and refunding would again take another half an hour," he argued.Another commuter, Jatin Mehra (25), said, "I had come to Gurgaon to attend my friend's birthday party. I bought a liquor bottle and some wine from Delhi as they are cheaper there. The CISF officials frisked me twice as if I was a terrorist and asked me to leave the station."DMRC said it would soon kick off a publicity campaign to make commuters aware of the new rule.