Railways Denies Kolkata Man’s FB Post Alleging a ‘Catering Scam’

He alleged that Yesvantpur-Howrah Express pantry car in-charge was selling food to passengers at double the price.

The Ministry of Railways has rubbished the claims of a passenger Protapta Das, who took to Facebook last week to allege that the Railways was engaging in what he termed as a “catering scam”.

1/Wrong and Misinformation moving round in Social Media and WhatsApp groups about overcharging in pantry car of train Yesvantpur to Hwh pic.twitter.com/Jt720Cg4VZ

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) February 19, 2017

In a Facebook post on 9 February, Das wrote to retired IAS officer Shivendra K Sinha, alleging that the Yesvantpur-Howrah Express pantry car in-charge and other staff were selling the food to the railway passengers at double the price.

He said that he looked up the IRCTC’s menu rates and found that the pantry staff were selling vegetarian meals worth Rs 50 for a price of Rs 90. He alleged that when he asked them to display the menu cards he was told that the rate cards were not available.

While the post mentions IRCTC, the catering for that particular train is not handled by IRCTC at all, but by an independent third party service.

In light of Das’ Facebook post, the IRCTC has launched a ‘Know Your Entitlement’ campaign on Twitter.

Dear Passengers, Know Your Entitlement @RailMinIndia pic.twitter.com/aeqeqWd6Xh

— IRCTC (@IRCTC_Ltd) February 15, 2017

(This story has been updated with the response of the Ministry of Railways.)