Uncooked meat, seafood not allowed on Chennai metro trains

CHENNAI: If you have just bought some fresh raw seafood from the Chintadripet fish market and have decided to board a metro train at Government Estate station to quickly go home and cook your favourite dish, you could be waiting for a long time as passengers are not allowed to carry raw meat and seafood in metro premises and in trains.
A metro rail official said uncooked meat and seafood are items banned in metro stations and trains under the Metro Railways Carriage Ticket Rules, 2014.According to the rules, officials categorise uncooked meat and fish under ‘carcasses of dead animals or of dead birds’ which fall under ‘offensive material’. “It is prohibited across all metros. You also cannot carry live animals or bird. We are simply following the rules,” an official said.
Among other ‘offensive material’ banned from metro rail services, are bones excluding bleached and cleaned bones, blood dried or coagulated or decomposed whether human or animal.
While commuters can carry packed cooked food into the stations and in trains, they are, however, not allowed to open or consume them while on commute.
Earlier this month in Bengaluru, a passenger was stopped at the entrance of a metro station for carrying uncooked fish back home. The incident came to light after the commuters tweeted about it and said the fish was in a properly sealed cover. Soon, Bangalore metro rail responded that meat is banned in the metro. However, it is allowed if it is properly packed and nothing is oozing out from the package or is emitting a foul smell.
In Chennai metro, commuters are also not allowed to carry unsealed liquor bottles. But those purchased from duty free shops and are properly sealed are allowed to pass through baggage scanners at the stations.
Among a list of items prohibited in metro, commuters cannot carry live animals or birds, gases compressed, liquefied or dissolved under pressure, petroleum and other inflammable liquids, inflammable solids, poisonous substances, acids and other corrosives, weapons, arms and ammunitions and any chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and enhanced conventional weapons which possess risk to passengers or property.