Masala shake-up

The Catering Directorate then sent a note to Northern Railway (NR) last month, asking for men to prepare South Indian food. It is the NR which is in charge of food and catering at Parliament House and at Rail Bhawan.

Senior Commercial Manager S.K. Sharma, in charge of catering at Parliament, received the request for additional staff to be deputed at Rail Bhawan. Stating that he could not spare anybody — and that Parliament House canteen itself was facing shortage of staff — he asked Chief Commercial Manager, NR, Pankaj Malviya to sanction the required staff.

Sharma had asked for six men — two cooks, two masalchi and two helpers. He requested for separate space at Rail Bhawan since South Indian cuisine need special vessels for grinding.

The CRB was not available for comment. NR spokesperson D.P.S. Sandhu confirmed that a request had been received to set up a South Indian canteen. Malviya, who held a meeting on the issue yesterday, approved the proposal and details are being worked out. There seemed no indication, on record, that the request for South Indian food had originated from Laloo. ‘‘The minister had expressed his desire to eat a dosa after taking charge. Probably the eager-to-please officials took it upon themselves to go out of their way to grant the minister his wish,’’ sources disclosed.