Efforts on to improve food on trains, says A-G

HC panel reports poor hygiene on pantry cars of various trains

Speaking in defence of the Railways before a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court, Attorney-General Milon Banerjee today said efforts had been initiated to improve the infrastructure, service and hygiene of food items supplied to passengers on various trains. This came in response to a report by an HC-appointed committee, which was placed before the court today.

Justices MK Sharma and Hima Kohli, hearing a PIL seeking direction to the Railway Ministry and IRCTC to modernise and sanitise their base kitchens supplying food for the passengers, had appointed the committee to carry out random checks and inspection of the kitchens.

The report, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, says, “It is unambiguously clear that contractors running the catering show and pantry car services are totally insensitive, careless and unconcerned, so far as maintaining minimum standards of hygiene are concerned.”

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The committee, formed pursuant to the PIL filed by advocate Varun Goswami, also informed the court that IRCTC or the Railways “has complete lack of command and authority in compelling the contractors in following the basic standards of hygiene.” The report with details of inspections carried out in trains like Jammu Rajdhani, Swaraj Express, Karnataka Express, Chhattisgarh Express and few others, also found that despite IRCTC’s claims about having deputed Quality Managers on trains to control and check the quality, none was found on any of these trains.

The committee comprising petitioner-counsel Goswami besides other senior advocates pointed out the unhygienic conditions in the kitchens of various trains. Despite charging exorbitant prices for food, the private contractors or licensees appointed by the IRCTC did not improve the quality of food and hygiene of the pantry cars in about 235 express trains, it further said.

Expressing annoyance that food prepared in such unhygienic conditions was being supplied to the passengers, the judges directed the IRCTC to take notice of the shortcomings and immediately initiate steps to improve the quality of food.

After the A-G submitted that no inspector or an expert was part of the committee, the Bench asked the committee to take along with it an inspector of the IRCTC when going on a surprise inspection of any pantry car of a train.

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Giving time to initiate steps in this regard, the court directed the authorities to submit a report within four weeks. The matter now comes up for hearing on December 21.