Hrishikesh Sarma
Indian Railways (IR) is a national railway system operated by Ministry of Railways. It is the fourth largest railway network in the world by size, with 67,368km (41,861 mi) routes. Routes are electrified with 25kV AC electric traction while thirty three percent of them are double tracked. It was founded on May 8, 1845. Indian railway is one of the most important modes of transport medium for many people across India. Every day more than 20000 passengers’ trains run both on long distance and suburban routes from 7,349 stations across India. The world’s eighth-largest employer, it had 1308 million employees as of March 2017. The net income of Indian railways is Rs 64.25 billion.
The different departments are looked after by different groups of people. In the same case, food department of Indian railway is being looked after by IRCTC [Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation]. The aim for distributing food at Indian train was started on September 1999 by IRCTC. As we all know, Indian railway is the only mode of transport medium for long distances which can be afforded by any section of people, as the rate of tickets and food are cheaper compared to airways.
Since 1999, IRCTC has taken different steps for the development of pantry cabin of Indian railway. Also different railway ministers have introduced some steps for development of railways.
According to Ministry of Railways, Government of India, the demands for attachment of pantry cars to the trains are considered based on various factors such as its commercial justification, availability of pantry cars, load limitation in the trains and other operational feasibility factors. As per norms laid down in the Catering Policy 2010, provision for attachment of pantry cars is based on order of priority with first priority to Durnoto and Rajdhani Express train, followed by long distance premier, superfast train, Mail and express train with more than 24 hrs journey time. At present 508 pairs of Express trains, running on Indian Railway, are covering distance beyond 1000 km.
Nowadays, the passengers of Indian railways are facing a big problem related to pantry cabin. The food provided in pantry cars is being overcharged by the catering groups, so the ministry of railways has issued a rate card, and if again the food is overcharged, the passengers can lodge a complaint against it. According to the rate card the cost of a coffee/tea is Rs 7, drinking water bottle is Rs 15, standard breakfast is Rs 30, standard non-veg breakfast is Rs 35, standard veg meal is Rs 50 and standard non-veg meal is Rs 55. But the public vendor does not sell the food in the rates issued by the authority instead, they charge Rs 100-150 with low quality food which cannot be afford by the passengers.
Related to this issue, a number of passengers have lodged complaints to the railways. In October 2015 railway minister Suresh Prabhu took several steps regarding the unfair and corrupted practices. On February 2017, Prabhu issued a new catering policy for the pantry cabin. But till date, the corruption is rampant. Railway authority has made a rule that catering groups should issue bill to the passenger against taking the food. The t-shirt worn by the public vendor’s of food catering has ‘no bill free meal’ imprinted but nothing is going as per rule.
On May 11, 2019, a passenger named Rajib Borthakur who was travelling from Allahabad to Guwahati via Shampakranti Express ordered a meal but when he took a bite of the food, he found that it was of poor quality. Moreover, the catering vendor did not issue a bill during the time of payment and the food cost Rs 120 instead of Rs 55. So, Borthakur argued with both the catering boy and the manager but these two fellows didn’t accept his saying. So he lodged a complaint to Nripen Bhattacharya [PRO Indian Railway]. When Bhattacharya threatened to lodge a complaint against the manager to the minister, only then did he repay the extra charge to Borthakur. Similarly, most of the Indian railway employees are facing such issues.
But the government cannot be blamed for these problems with the Indian Railway, it is the public vendor of IRCTC who should be held responsible. The Indian railway authority should take serious steps against it and also we the passengers should fight against it. It is very shameful that inspit of being the fourth largest transport medium of the world, such types of corruption is going with the passengers of the Indian Railways.
If Indian railway officials cannot solve this problem then who is responsible for it? A solution should be remedied at the earliest as the railway commuters are faced with this dilemma every single day and is an unnecessary nuisance. As such, I request all passengers to remain alert and fight against such corruptions.
Also read: GUWAHATI CITY