CHENNAI: A conductor with the

(TNSTC) was issued a memo for letting a pigeon perched on the window of a bus travel without a ticket earlier this week. The pigeon in question was reportedly keeping a drunk passenger company from its perch in a window of the bus.

Late on Thursday evening, the only government bus connecting

town and

, a remote tribal village, was on its way through a forest area with more than 80 passengers, when, just as it reached the outskirts of Harur, transport department inspectors flagged the bus to check tickets. At the time, the drunk passenger, in his mid-forties, had caught hold of the pigeon, and was “having a conversation“ with it.

Noticing the bird, an inspector asked the conductor if he had issued the bird a ticket. For good measure, the inspector quoted a rule purportedly mandating tickets for animals and birds on the bus as well. The conductor said the passenger was not carrying the bird at the time of boarding. Not impressed, the inspector issued the conductor a memo.

An official quoted transport department rules as saying that conductors should collect one-fourth of the full fare when a passenger is carrying more than 30 pigeons at a time.“The rules don't mention charging passengers for transporting one pigeon,“ he said. A senior TNSTC official in the

division said he would wait till Monday to see the memo the inspector submits. “Inspectors submit memos on Mondays. We will take appropriate action if any rule was broken,“ he said.

Following the incident, a bus conductor said, crew operating government buses on the route are keeping an eagle's eye to ensure no birds fly into the bus.