Lok Sabha Question No. 2343 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-26
Subject: Hygienic Water and Quality of Food
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: OM BIRLA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2343

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.12.2018

## HYGIENIC WATER AND QUALITY OF FOOD

## 2343. SHRI OM BIRLA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the fact that unpurified water straight  from  taps  and  at  times  toilets  is  used  in  preparation  of beverages and food provided to passengers and are not hygienic;
- (b) if  so,  the  steps  initiated  by  the  Government  to  improve  the prevailing situation and to provide healthy, wholesome and hygienic food to the passengers;
- (c) whether the Government has taken note of the fact that frequent changes  in  Catering  Policy  for  an  undertaking  of  the  size  of  the Indian  Railways  where  23  million  passengers  travel  daily,  have adversely  impacted  the  catering  services  leaving  the  travelling passengers in lurch and switch over the means of catering resulting into intrusion of unauthorized vendors;
- (d) if so, whether the Government intends to implement a new Catering Policy,  2017  in  letter  and  spirit  with  no  further  change  in  the system; and
- (e)
- if so, the details in this regard?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

- (a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

*****

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  To  (e)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2343 BY SHRI OM BIRLA IN LOK SABHA ON 26.12.2018 REGARDING PROVISION FOR HYGIENIC WATER AND QUALITY OF FOOD

(a) & (b): No, Madam. To maintain hygiene and quality, only potable drinking  water  is  used  for  cooking  of  food  on  Indian  Railways. Further, in its endeavour to provide hygienic and quality food to the passengers, Indian Railways have taken several measures as under:

- (i) Upgradation of Base Kitchens/Kitchen Units: To upgrade quality of  food  preparation,  IRCTC  is  setting  up  new  kitchens  and upgrading  existing  ones.    To  ensure  centralized  monitoring  of the  kitchen  activities,  CCTVs  have  been  installed  in  Base Kitchens/Kitchen  Units.  Sharing  of  live  streaming  of  the  Base Kitchens through website of IRCTC has been made operational.
- (ii) To ensure compliance of Food Safety Norms, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) certification from Designated  Food  Safety  Officers of each  catering unit is mandatory.  Food  Safety  Supervisors  have  been  deployed  at Kitchen  Units  to  monitor  food  safety  and  hygienic  practices. Food samples collected by Food Safety Officers/Supervisors are sent  to  the  nominated  accredited  Laboratories  under  Food Safety  &  Standard  Act  for  analysis  and  testing.  Penalties  are imposed in  cases  of  detection  of  unsatisfactory  food  samples and  prosecutions  are  carried  out  as  per  provisions  of  Food Safety & Standard Rule -2011.
- (iii) Examination  of  quality  of  food,  hygiene  and  cleanliness  in Pantry  Cars  and  Kitchen  Units  is  done  through  Third  Party Audit. Customer satisfaction survey is also conducted through Third Party Agencies.
- (iv) Regular  and  surprise  inspections  are  conducted  by  railway officials including Food Safety Officers. Detailed instructions/guidelines have been issued to the Zonal Railways for conducting inspections.
- (v) Monitoring and supervision of catering service is done through operation of centralized Catering Service Monitoring Cell (CSMC)  toll  free  number  1800-111-321,  Operation  of  All  India Helpline  No.  138,  Twitter  handle,  CPGRAMS,  E-Mail  and  SMS based complaints redressal.

(c) to (e):  With the objective to provide quality and hygienic food to passengers, a new Catering Policy 2017 has been notified  wherein unbundling of catering services on trains by IRCTC  has been envisaged.  In  compliance  thereof  IRCTC  has  already  taken  over management of 377 mobile units (pairs of trains with pantry Cars) and 262 static units/Kitchen Units. IRCTC has already upgraded 30 Base Kitchens/  Kitchen  Units.    IRCTC  is  closely  monitoring  the  quality  of food  preparation  through  various  modalities,  e.g.  CCTV,  Food  safety supervisors,  IRCTC  supervisor,  food  sampling  in  NABL  accredited labs, Third Party Audit.

Changes  in  policy  are  made  after  taking  the  felt  needs  into under account. The provisions of Catering Policy 2017 are implementation by IRCTC and Zonal Railways.