Lucknow: Hardly a week after Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India said in its audit report that food served by Indian Railways to its passengers is unfit for consumption, a shocking incident of negligence by railway authorities has come to light. A lizard was found in the food served to a passenger onboard the Poorva Express today morning.
The incident was noticed soon after the passenger complained about it to the railway minister on Twitter. “Ordered food in Mokama and found this. I complained to the TTE, canteen manager, and tweeted it to the railway minister,” said the passenger.
He added that he was given medicine late. The incident took place near Chandauli in Uttar Pradesh.
Soon after the tweet, DRM Kanpur division assured to take action.
“A check-up was done in Danapur Division and he was given medicine. Action will be taken after investigation,”said Kishor Kumar, DRM Danapur Division.
In a bid to fix the issues with catering services, hours after the incident was reported, Indian Railways issued a 48 hour notice and terminated catering contract of Poorva Express.
The catering contract on Poorva Express was given to RK Associates on 15 May 2014 for five years. In a series of tweets, the Ministry of Railways announced its decision to terminate the contract.
In one of the tweets, the railways said that the caterer was fined Rs 10 lakh last year, while this year they were fined Rs 7.5 lakh.
Earlier this week, CAG had pointed out various loopholes in the catering services in the railways.
The report said that the articles that are being provided at railway stations and in trains were unfit for human consumption.
Fruit juices, biscuits and flavored milk being sold at railway stations were found to be unsuitable for human consumption in the inspection by CAG team.
The extensive report threw light on foods infested with insects and unsold food items were recycled by the caterers.
