There is a shade of difference between being tipsy and being a nuisance

The Indian penchant for getting on gravy trains has become rather too obvious these days. It is not surprising, therefore, that Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s security authorities are about to add steam to that movement by proposing to disallow drunken commuters from using the subway.

Considering that drunks are far safer — both personally and in relation to others — ensconced in a railway carriage than driving cars or reeling on the road, this abstemiousness is curious. Drinking is not regarded as an offence unlike the vague act of “causing nuisance”, nor is there a law stipulating that commuters have to be sober.

As the distinction between those who are merely high-spirited or drunk and those who are “causing nuisance” may be a matter of opinion for the authorities regardless of what breathalysers show — as is often the case now on roads — the chances are high of another gravy train being created. Drinking has been, or is being, banned on subways all over the world but not tipsiness, as trains are the logical mode of transport to avoid falling foul of strictly enforced drunk-driving laws.

If the Delhi Metro persists in its temperance measures, however, Indians who have had one too many for the road now face the prospect of being derailed from getting home in a safer mode of public transport as well.