The apathy is perhaps the most noticeable in the case of cigarettes. Under an all-India ban, they are not available at the Vadodara station. But the die-hard smoker need only wait till the train pulls out of the platform, for that's when the men with the trays of candies and chocolates come around. Buried beneath the layers of sweets will be the rectangular packets.

Of course, forbidden pleasures come at a price. Complains Gautam Handoo, a frequent traveller, ``The hawkers charge Rs 15 to Rs 20 more than the price printed on the packets. The ban on the sale of cigarettes has actually came as a boon for them.''

Illegal hawkers are the most common on Delhi-bound trains. As Rakesh Pandey, who travels often to Ratlam from Vadodara, says, ``As soon as the train leaves Vadodara, these men appear.'' Express Newsline witnessed the blatant violation recently on the Jammu-bound Swaraj Express.

Interestingly, the racket flourishes only as far as Ratlam, where the illegal hawker usually disembarks and continues to conduct his business on the platform. The reason for this are the strict checks beyond this point, where the Ratlam division's jurisdiction begins.

So why doesn't the Vadodara division brush up its act? All that Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Manmohan Singh can say in defence is that the Vadodara division has no special squads to check hawkers. ``If there are complaints, travelling ticket examiners can impose a fine or hand them over to the railway magistrates at Viramgam and Godhra'', he says.

The squads are supposed to be especially vigilant on the superfast, mail and express trains. ``They can seize their products and impose fines, or even turn them over to railway magistrates'', says a divisional officer.

According to a senior divisional officer, however, such instances are rare. ``Barely three or four cases are recorded against hawkers annually. Those, too, are lodged mostly in March, when TTEs need to meet targets'', he says.