After the recent hijack drama at the Delhi airport,it is now the turn of the Indian Railways to enact their version of a hijack that never was. What started out as a hijack alert by two loco-pilots from the Kanpur division on Wednesday finally turned out to be a case of rivalry for a kilometre allowance. Loco-pilots Manoj Singh and Shafiq Alam had raised an alert that the Ranchi-bound 2878 Garib Rath had been hijacked by two other drivers from the New Delhi station on Wedneday evening. Initial reports suggested that a driver in an inebriated condition had run away with the train and taken it all the way up to Kanpur. As the entire Railways machinery went into a tizzy on Thursday morning,the train was intercepted at Kanpur railway station and the loco-pilot and his deputy,identified as Harswaroop and Rameshwar,detained for questioning. However,the interrogation of both these men clearly established that both of them were authorised to run the train,were not in a drunken state and had not committed any procedural lapse. Railway officials later clarified that Singh and Alam had driven the train from Kanpur to Delhi and were now staking a claim on driving the train back to Kanpur. The claim made by the drivers from Kanpur was apparently prompted by their wish to earn a little more kilometer allowance which they would have got had they driven this train from Delhi, a Railway Ministry official said. Officials explained that loco-pilots were keen on driving faster trains like Rajdhanis,Shatabdis and Garib Raths as it offered them a chance to cover more kilometers in less time and earn a better kilometer allowance. Senior Railway officials also clarified that had somebody actually run away with the train,the train would have been easily halted by discontinuing the electricity supply from the overhead electricity (OHE) wire. It is preposterous to assume that a drunk driver could take a train over 450 kilometers without being intercepted, an official said. The North Central Railway,meanwhile,has ordered an inquiry and was reportedly initiating some disciplinary action against the errant drivers from Kanpur Division.
