Railway guard Alexander Beck releases the air pressure which controls the link between the brake van and the Machchar Nashak Yantra – a municipal tanker filled with mosquito larvae killing liquid mounted on a rail wagon. “Mosquito Terminator loco pilot pandrah se bees speed rakhein ,” says Beck on the wireless. “ Ji janaab, ” crackles the walky-talky in reply from engine driver Gurkirpal Singh.
The skies are clear and the sun is overhead. Mosquito Terminator – previously known as Malaria Express and popularly called Macchar Maal and Malaria Ispesal – is running four hours late. “Rail lines are usually occupied from 4 a.m. to 11 a.m. Passenger trains get first preference. We need to coordinate and move as soon as a line falls vacant,” explains Vinod Kumar, Chief Health Inspector (Malaria), Delhi Railway Division.
This train started more than a decade back, but became a regular fixture before the Commonwealth Games in 2010. It runs after the monsoons in August to the beginning of winter in late November. It is a simple assortment of an engine, a goods wagon and a brake van. An 8000 litre cylindrical tank mounted on a municipal truck is parked on the wagon. The tank is filled with a solution of anti-larval agents Temephos or Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (BTI). Municipal and railway staff sprays the liquid along the tracks all across Delhi with a fire hose.
Explains N. R. Tuli, Deputy Health Officer of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, “During the monsoon rainwater collects near the tracks. What we do is source reduction; killing the larvae. As tracks go all around Delhi, this leads to a major reduction of the vectors of diseases like malaria and dengue.” Tuli and Kumar coordinate this exercise, from 5 in the morning.
The Terminator runs the same route every fortnight. There are four routes – North, East, West and South, with the Western route going into Gurgaon. This year the train has eight trips, six of which have been completed. The train starts and terminates at New Delhi railway station.
All the staff agrees that the South Delhi route is the most beautiful. North Delhi Municipal Corporation driver Ajit Singh says, “It’s like a picnic in the hills. The line has many turns through the lush green forests along the ridge. We pass by Purana Qila, Humayun’s Tomb, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and Najafkhan’s Tomb. No one sees Delhi like the way we do. It is like heaven, especially if the weather is good.” Most of them have images from the South route as wallpapers on their mobile phones.
Working on the Terminator is a risky job. “The spray gun atop the tanker can touch a sagging high tension line. That’s why we switched to using the fire hose. If you are on the goods coach at that time, you must jump off immediately or you will get electrocuted. The train must not stop at that time or we all can get electrocuted by the induction current,” explains railway store in-charge Ravinder.
As the South trips for this year have concluded, this reporter went on the North route. The train meandered under Ajmeri Gate bridge, Sadar Bazar Bridge and railway station. Its slows down when the Singh spots children near an Idgah playing on thr tracks. They give way for the train which then halts to let the Mumbai-Ferozpur Passenger through.
The railways, explained Kumar, is like a family. “We spend so much time together. So everyone shares their food.” There are three potato-based sabzis, four kinds of pickles, spiced buttermilk, rotis and littis on the menu for lunch served in the brake van.
Just as the train enters the tunnel under Pul Bangash, Rail Malaria Khalaasi Manjay Kumar yells, “ Arre laga laga laga .” As the spray gun touched a sagging high tension wire, there is a loud explosion and sparks fly. Beck explains that despite maintenance, lines do sag. “Technology, internet and the wireless have made things very safe, but in the end it is the skill of the driver and our alertness that keep the train safe,” he says.
“ Bada riksy kaam hai (sic),” says Kumar, while sharing his chickpea and pickle littis with this reporter. “ Lekin bahut sahi kaam .” He gives me another litti. “ Khaiye Khaiye hamri phamily (wife) ne chaar baje utthke banaya hai .”
