If a recent audit report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is anything to go by, then one should watch out for what one consumes while travelling on an Indian train.
The CAG report on the Indian Railways’ catering services, to be submitted on Friday in the Parliament, has claimed that food items “unsuitable for human consumption” — adulterated food, packaged eatables and bottled products, and unsanctioned brands of bottled water were being sold at stations, as per a TOI report.
According to the CAG report, frequent changes in the catering policy of the Indian Railways have resulted in unreliable services being offered to the travellers, said a report by the Times of India. Among the inadequacies in the railways’ catering services are a lack of hygiene, poor food quality, and bills not being provided for the food served.
Moreover, printed menu cards with the food and beverage prices were not available with waiters and catering managers in any of the trains that were inspected.
The CAG team and the railways had collaborated to inspect 74 select stations and 80 trains, and found that hygiene was not being maintained at the catering units at stations and trains. The audit noted, as quoted by the TOI:
Unpurified water, straight from the tap, was used in preparation of beverages, waste bins were not found covered, not emptied regularly and not washed, food items were not covered to protect them from flies, insects, and dust, rats and cockroaches were found in trains etc.
The audit report also noted that the Indian Railways had failed to take measures to provide the required infrastructure such as base kitchens, automatic vending machines, static catering units, etc. Moreover, it also found that the eatables being sold at railway stations were priced much higher than their open market rates.
Also, the report observed, as quoted by TOI:
Blueprint for the provision of catering services was not prepared in seven Zonal Railways. The policy of progressive switch over from gas burners to electric power equipment in pantry cars to avoid the occurrence of fire accidents in trains was not followed while manufacturing the pantry cars in Integral Coach Factory, Perambur.
(With inputs from the Times of India)
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