Railways got over 19,000 complaints for bad food in 5 yrs, fines in 3,137 cases

In a written response to the questions from CPI (M) MP John Brittas, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that prompt and appropriate punitive actions, including imposition of fines, disciplinary action, counselling, warning, etc., were taken in case any instance of adulterated/unhygienic food or passenger complaint was reported.

According to the data, out of 19,427 complaints of bad quality food in trains received in the last five financial years, fines were imposed in 3,137 cases.

In 9,627 cases, warnings were issued and in 4,467 cases, the vendors were “advised suitably”. The data shows that the licence of one entity was terminated (in FY21) for supplying bad quality food to passengers. Apart from this, 2,195 complaints were found to be “not substantiated” and resolved on board.

The Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) floats tenders to select service providers for provision of onboard catering services in trains, including Vande Bharat and other long distance trains. These tenders are awarded through a competitive bidding process.

Vaishnaw said that at present, contracts of clusters of trains have been awarded by IRCTC to 20 entities. He listed some of the key measures taken to improve the quality of food in trains including supply of meals from designated base kitchen, installation of CCTV cameras in base kitchens for monitoring, deployment of food safety supervisors at base kitchen, deployment of on-board IRCTC supervisors on train, regular food sampling, surprise inspections by Railway/IRCTC officials, etc.