Delhi Govt Requests Delhi Metro Rail Corporation To Revisit Liquor Carrying Rule

The Delhi government has requested the DMRC to reverse its decision to allow passengers to carry two liquor bottles on Metro trains.

Delhi govt writes to DMRC again for changing its decision to allow passengers to carry alcohol New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) The Delhi government has reiterated its demand to the DMRC to change its recent decision to allow passengers to carry two liquor bottles each in Metro trains, officials said on Thursday. The Excise department of the government wrote to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on October 6 to take action in this regard, a senior Delhi government officer said.

A similar request was made by the Excise department in a letter to the DMRC on August 3, he said.

In a statement, the DMRC said, "We have received a letter from the Excise department which is being examined keeping in view certain clarifications asked earlier by DMRC as we are running our operations in jurisdictions involving different states." In June this year, the DMRC permitted commuters to carry two sealed bottles of alcohol per person on Delhi Metro trains. Earlier, carrying alcohol was banned in the Delhi Metro except on the Airport Express Line.

The two-bottle norm was recommended by a committee comprising officers of DMRC and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) that is responsible for security at Metro stations.

The Excise department has asked for changing the two bottle norms on the basis that it violates the Delhi Excise Act provision. According to the Excise Act, only one sealed bottle of liquor like rum, vodka and whisky could be carried from one state to another.

Another reason for the Excise department's objection is that the legal drinking age in NCR towns like Gurugram is 21 years while it's 25 years in Delhi.

It constitutes a violation of the Delhi Excise Rules 2010 if liquor is carried by a youth under 25 years of age from NCR cities like Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad to Delhi, all of which are connected by the Metro network, officials said.

Earlier, the DMRC had said that passengers were expected to follow extant rules and regulations of the state excise department concerned while carrying liquor during cross-border transit.