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Railways Releases New Rates: Rs 50 for Lunch, Rs 30 for Breakfast

The move comes after a flood of complaints on social media about overcharging for meals on trains. 

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After being flooded with complaints of over-priced food on social media, the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) released a new menu card on its Twitter account.

A standard vegetarian lunch will now cost Rs 50, while a non-veg one will cost Rs 55. Breakfasts are now priced at Rs 30 and 35 respectively. The IRCTC has also ensured that all the food served will be freshly cooked, two hours before being served.

The Railways Ministry has taken this move with the aim of reducing discrepancies between actual prices and the rates being charged to customers, and has asked people to lodge a complaint if they feel aggrieved.

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Angry customers have taken to Twitter to voice their grievances against IRCTC in the recent past, alleging that they were being overcharged for their meal. Passengers have also complained about the quality of the food and services provided by private vendors selected by the IRCTC.

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The Railways, which provides about 11 lakh meals to passengers every day, has separated cooking and distribution of food under the recently launched new catering policy. On Tuesday, Suresh Prabhu, Union Railway Minister said:

We have decided to provide good quality food to our passengers and for that, we have decided to have base kitchens at several places so that fresh food can be picked up after every two hours of travel.

A round table conference was also held on Tuesday with the aim to formulate a roadmap under the new catering policy and provide the best catering service at rail premises.

Representatives from the food and beverage industry, self-help groups and senior IRCTC and railway officials attended the meeting.

Admitting to complaints against the food served in trains, Prabhu said, "Whenever complaints come, we always take prompt action. We had a detailed discussion before formulating the policy and today (Tuesday) we will hold a discussion for its smooth implementation."

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"We have announced a new catering policy. There were many complaints against the catering services. There were complaints against those who have got the catering responsibility under our earlier catering policy," he said.

Seeking participation of private players in setting up base kitchens near stations, Prabhu said:

We have decided how to provide good quality food to our passengers. So we decided to have base kitchens at many places across the country. The base kitchens will be mechanised kitchens with less human intervention. It can be done through public-private-partnership (PPP) mode.
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He said base kitchens will benefit passengers as fresh food can be picked up in trains after every two hours, something which even airlines cannot do.

On the distribution front, Prabhu also sought participation of reputed caterers.

"Delivery of food is important for effective catering service. Delivery of fresh food in trains can also be done by reputed caterers with proper quality control mechanisms," he said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Topics:  Suresh Prabhu   Railways 

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