Better food on trains, can you believe it?

As per a news, IRCTC has given such assurance to court. Whether IRCTC will fulfill this assurance only time will tell. I have my own doybts. The claims made by IRCTC in their affidavit are so tall that it seems to be an exercise to impress the court without thinking that these claims will have to be turned in to reality.

Two Quality Control Personnel from reputed Hotel management Institutes will travel on each train to listen and to remove public grievances about food quality. The claim also includes stringent controls, better monitoring of food and a menu available to the passengers.. Water poucheswill be replaced with safe bottled water. Please note, it is each train.

On the ground, a astate of art kitchen with specialized equipment, an in-house training cell and new uniforms.

The claim is interestingly silent about installation of any Food Safety Management System as per International Standard ISO 22000.

Bedrolls given in Indian trains – most unhygienic manner

On the nights of 13 and 14 July 2007, I had traveled by Shram Shakti Express between New Delhi to Kanpur and back. Indian Railways provide bedrolls in AC coaches. IRCTC had given contracts to private operators for this.

The contractors are required to comply with following conditions:

a) One bedroll kit should contain two bed sheets, one pillow, one pillow cover, one blanket, one face towel,

b) Bedrolls to be stored and transported in specially designed canvas bags,

c) Bedroll kit to be provided to passengers in tamper-proof eco-friendly carry bags with IRCTC logo printed on bags,

d) Blankets should washed/dry-cleaned every month.

Contractor did not comply with above requirements. Face towel was not provided. No canvas bags, no carry bags, blankets never washed/dry-cleaned. No responsible person is present in the train. Delivery boys are not aware of the name of the contract agency. I wrote a complaint in the complaint book provided by Ticket Examiner.

Bedrolls were tied in the cloth pieces, and were dragged on the floor.