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Train tea vendors ‘use toilet water’: When will Indian Railways clean up its act?

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DailyBiteMay 03, 2018 | 19:05

Train tea vendors ‘use toilet water’: When will Indian Railways clean up its act?

The incident took place in December 2017 on the Charminar Express, at Secunderabad (Telangana) station.

The Indian Railways has slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh on a contractor after a video clip of vendors coming out of a train toilet with cans full of water went viral.

The video purportedly shows two vendors mixing water from the toilet into the cans. 

Disturbing as it may seem, the scarier part is this is not the first time food served in trains has been found to be of questionable quality.

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The incident took place in December 2017 on the Charminar Express, at Secunderabad (Telangana) station. Photo: ANI
The incident took place in December 2017 on the Charminar Express, at Secunderabad (Telangana) station. Photo: ANI

From passengers hospitalised due to food poisoning to insects found in plates, the Indian railways has a long and unsavoury history of serving up a mess.  

How many wake-up calls does the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) need before it can do the least expected of it – providing passengers hygienic, edible food?

The latest incident

The incident, whose video has been going viral, reportedly took place in December 2017 on the Charminar Express, at Secunderabad (Telangana) station. The men seen in the video were employed by contractor P Siva Prasad, whom the railways has fined and issued a showcause notice to.  

“On the basis of the inquiry, stringent action has been taken up against the Train Side Vending contractor for the section between Secunderabad and Kazipet, P. Siva Prasad, with whom the identified vendor in the video was employed. A penalty of Rs 1 lakh has been levied on the licensee, through IRCTC, the contracting agency,” the railways said in a statement

The men had claimed they were only transferring the leftover beverage from one can to another inside the toilet, and had not mixed toilet water with it.

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“However, the very fact that the Tea/Coffee cans were seen brought out of the toilet, is in itself a wrong practice,” the railways’ statement said.

Not the first

Only, such “wrong practices” seem worryingly routine on the Indian railways.

In July 2017, a Comptroller and Auditor General report on the catering services in the railways had found that food “unsuitable for human consumption”, contaminated and recycled food, packaged items past their shelf life and unauthorised brands of water bottles were being offered to passengers at stations.

A joint audit report of the CAG team and the railways, after the inspection of 74 stations and 80 trains, had observed: “Unpurified water straight from tap was used in preparation of beverages, waste bins were not found covered, not emptied regularly and not washed, food stuff were not covered to protect them from flies, insects and dust, rats and cockroaches were found in trains etc.”

There have been other issues too, such as passengers not being given bills for the items they bought.

In October 2017, 24 passengers were hospitalised, allegedly due to “food poisoning”, after having breakfast onboard the premium Goa-Mumbai Tejas Express. Photo: PTI/file
In October 2017, 24 passengers were hospitalised, allegedly due to “food poisoning”, after having breakfast onboard the premium Goa-Mumbai Tejas Express. Photo: PTI/file

After the report led to a hue and cry, the railway ministry had announced that the IRCTC had adopted a new catering policy, unbundling services such as food preparation and serving, and set up new kitchens and upgraded existing ones.

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However, barely three months later, in October 2017, 24 passengers were hospitalised, allegedly due to “food poisoning”, after having breakfast onboard the premium Goa-Mumbai Tejas Express.

While IRCTC’s statement immediately after the incident had mentioned food poisoning, later, the body claimed the passengers fell ill because the coach’s atmosphere had been “vitiated” by two children vomiting.

The initial IRCTC statement had said: “A case of food poisoning was reported on train no. 22120 Tejas Express upon information from passengers. The train was stopped out of course at Chiplun railway station and treatment was given to passengers by railway doctor.”

However, one day and an inquiry later, the cause of the passengers’ “uneasiness” changed to two children from a Himachal tourist group vomiting inside the train. “The cause of uneasiness amongst other passengers appears to be repercussion of above as vomiting on coach floor vitiated the air quality and triggered uneasiness,” the railway inquiry report had said.

Barely 10 days later, the Chandigarh consumer forum fined the IRCTC Rs 30,000 for serving food that had “dead insects” to a passenger on the Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi Express.

The Indian Express had quoted the complainant as saying: “After eating a few morsels of parantha with cheese gravy, I opened the lids of other food items, i.e. dal and rice, and was shocked to notice the presence of some dead insects and foreign matter in the same. I showed the same to the catering staff, who felt apologetic and removed the tray containing contaminated food items... As a result, I had to remain hungry during the journey despite having paid for the meal.”

The Indian railways network is the second largest in the world, and millions of people use it every single day. By failing to clean up its act, the government is serving these passengers ill health upon a platter.

Last updated: May 03, 2018 | 19:05
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