Indian Railways on Friday said it was taking back the job of catering in trains from its subsidiary Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). Railways, which used to manage catering services till 1999, gave the task away to concentrate on running passenger and freight trains and facilitate providing better food to passengers through the subsidiary.
But the move of taking over catering job from IRCTC is said to be initiated as the number of complaints about food and related services increased over the years (see table). ?Complaints over the quality of food served in trains were increasing and IRCTC was not addressing them properly despite repeated instructions,? Railway board chairman Vivek Sahai told reporters here.
However, Sahai was not clear as to what difference will Railways make to catering, considering that Railway Board used to fix the food menu and tariff, and kept a constant check on IRCTC?s functioning.
The take over is part of the new catering policy, after railway minister Mamata Banerjee last year announced the overhaul of the policy of 2005 issued by previous minister Lalu Prasad. As per the new catering policy, food menu and tariff will continue to be fixed by the board, while catering services will be provided by zonal railways. Railway employees will monitor the services so provided.
The management of catering in trains and pantry car will be taken back from IRCTC in a phased manner. IRCTC will continue managing food courts and food plazas at railway stations. There are 64 courts and plazas at present and 1,000 stations have been identified for setting up such outlets.
IRCTC serves food in about 300 trains, including premier trains like Rajdhani. The shifting of this service will take away revenue opportunity of Rs 400 crore from it.