Cracking the whip, railways has served termination notice to the caterer of Sealdah Rajdhani after receiving complaints against food quality served onboard.
The catering in the Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani has been outsourced to R K Associates, a Kanpur-based private agency engaged in train catering.
Some passengers of the New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express yesterday demonstrated at Asansol station over the "poor quality" of food allegedly served to them for dinner last night.
The passengers of the B8 and B9 coaches alleged that the food served to them at Kanpur was stale and many of them had vomited through the night after having it.
The issue was raised in the Lok Sabha today and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu assured action against the caterer.
While an inquiry has been ordered into the incident, railways has imposed Rs 50,000 penalty and issued show cause notice seeking explanation from the caterer as to why his catering contract should not be cancelled, said a senior Railway Ministry official involved in catering management.
R K Associates has been given 15-days time to submit explanation on the food complaints.
Besides termination of its contract, the agency could also be blacklisted after completion of inquiry, the official said.
Railways has introduced the e-catering and ready-to-eat food provisions for passengers.
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