How to catch a tippler?

KOCHI: Could it be another gimmick by the railways, serving old wine in a new bottle, by launching a drive to book drunken passengers? Though the Southern Railway has launched an extensive drive to nab boozers on board and platforms, ambiguity still prevails regarding how to effectively enforce the provision under the Railway Act.The difference is that earlier the railway would act on the complaints registered against the drunken passengers. Now, the scanner will be on every drunken passenger. This is good news of course, but it also begs the question. How does the railway propose to achieve this?The tailor made answer from the authorities is that they can manage with the present number of staff. “We agree that inadequate RPF staff could be a problem. But we have to manage somehow,” said an official with the RPF.The sources said that most of the complaints are registered from the sleeper class and sometimes from the general compartment. Asked how they are going to nab  the offenders the official said “ We will conduct daily checking in the compartments.”If somebody is booked where the RPF does not have a wing, the local police would be entrusted to take action. The Ernakulam North and South railway stations have the RPF wing, but in Aluva, only picketing duty is there. In such cases, the local police or the railway police can book them, he said.The only measure to trace boozers is breathalyzers. K J Joy, Railway Protection Force Divisional Security Commissioner. But it’s still not certain how many of these devices will be distributed to the force. One of the impediments faced by the railway officials is the lack of proper amenities.Sources said there were instances where the officials couldn’t book offenders. “We could not take action against many as we did not have any arrangements to conduct proper testing. So most of them would be let off,” sources said.