(FP)
Travelling long distance on a train and scared to eat from the pantry? This has been the usual state of affairs on the Indian Railways, as rotten food routinely gets served on board, catering staff is invariably rude and often these workers also seek tips after inflating prices of eatables, illegally. Besides, in a clever ploy, they also sell less quantities of an item than prescribed, allegedly siphoning off the difference. Well, if newly minted Railways Minister Piyush Goyal’s latest diktat is any indication, at least eating on the train may not be so heavy on the pocket from today. Even if the minister has as yet given no hint on how the food will be made edible or underweight packets tackled, what he has proposed to do about catering is a good start. From today, Railways’ catering inspectors are supposed to fan out across the trains to check if the catering staff are asking for tips or over-charging for food. The Railways also promised to monitor social media platforms to look out for passengers complaining about overcharging and waiters asking for tips.
The minister wrote to all zonal units and put a 48-hour deadline on such malpractices, The Indian Expressreport said. Action against the corrupt should start from today. Needless to say, this is a welcome move though only partially addressing the huge catering rip off that passes off for service on Indian Railways.
