Lok Sabha Question No. 5087 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-24
Subject: Quality of Food in Trains
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Mohanbhai Kalyanji Kundariya

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5087 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.07.2019

## QUALITY OF FOOD IN TRAINS 5087. SHRI MOHANBHAI KALYANJI KUNDARIYA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  IRCTC  has  given  catering  services  to  private  contractors and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of the eligibility criteria for getting contracts from IRCTC along with the number of private catering units presently operating;
- (c) whether some catering agencies are not serving eatables in terms of approved contract and if so, the details thereof along with details of the action taken against such agencies; and
- (d) whether the Government has taken any steps to provide quality food from IRCTC in all its trains and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a)  &  (b):  Yes,  Sir.  Indian  Railways  Catering  and  Tourism  Corporation Limited  (IRCTC)  has  engaged  private  contractors  to  operate  pantry  car contracts of 413 pairs of trains. In addition, Private Contractors have also been engaged to provide catering services through Train Side Vending in trains  without  pantry  cars  and  through  Static  Units  at  stations.  For provision of e-catering services, reputed service providers are also empanelled by IRCTC.

Details  of  all  tenders  of  IRCTC  including  the  eligibility  criteria  are available on IRCTC's website http://www.irctc.com/tenders\_En.jsp.

(c):  In  case  any  instance  of  non-compliance  of  terms  and  conditions  of contract  is  reported  or  noticed,  strict  action  is  taken  against  the  service providers  for  deficiency  in  service.  Details  of  such  complaints  and  action taken are appended.

(d):  To provide quality food to passengers, a new Catering Policy has been issued  on  27 th   February  2017  vide  which  Indian  Railway  Catering  and Tourism  Corporation  Limited  (IRCTC)  has  been  mandated  to  carry  out unbundling  of  catering  services  by  creating  a  distinction  between  food preparation and food distribution on trains.

For this purpose, meals for trains are to be sourced from kitchens owned, operated and managed by IRCTC. Various steps taken to provide quality food to passengers are as follows:

- I. In order to upgrade quality of food preparation, IRCTC has upgraded 46  Kitchen  Units  in  the  last  two  years.    CCTV  cameras  have  been installed in 38 Base Kitchens for monitoring purposes and web-based live streaming facility has been extended to these kitchens.
- II. Food  Safety  Supervisors  have  been  deployed  at  Base  Kitchens  to monitor food safety and hygienic practices.
- III. To  upgrade  the  quality  of  meals  to  be  served  to  the  passengers, IRCTC is rationalising the menus.
- IV. Branded  food  providers  have  been  roped  in  to  provide  e-catering services in trains.
- V. System  of  printing  barcode  and  other  details  like  name  of  kitchen, date of packaging etc. on food packets has been initiated.
- VI. Regular and surprise inspections are conducted by Railway officials including Food Safety Officers.
- VII. Examination of quality of food, hygiene and cleanliness in Pantry Cars and Base Kitchens through Third Party Audits.
- VIII. Monitoring  and  supervision  of  catering  service  through  operation  of centralized Catering Service Monitoring Cell (CSMC) toll free number 1800-111-321,  Twitter  handle,  CPGRAMS,  E-Mail  and  SMS  based complaints redressal.

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APPENDIX  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (c)  OF  UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5087 BY SHRI MOHANBHAI KALYANJI KUNDARIYA TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 24.07.2019 REGARDING QUALITY OF FOOD IN TRAINS (c): The number of complaints received against catering agencies for not serving  eatables  in  terms  of  approved  contracts  during  the  last  year (01.04.2018 to 31.03.2019) along with the action taken in this regard.

|                               |                  | Action Taken   | Action Taken                   | Action Taken   | Action Taken   | Action Taken     | Action Taken      | Action Taken   | Action Taken   | Action Taken   |
|-------------------------------|------------------|----------------|--------------------------------|----------------|----------------|------------------|-------------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|                               |                  | Fined          | Fined                          |                |                | Suitably Advised | Not Substantiated | & AR Action    | Any Other      |                |
| Type of Complaint             | Total Complaints | No. of Cas es  | Amount of Fine imposed (in ₹ ) | Warned         | Termination    |                  |                   | D              |                | Total          |
| Over Charging                 | 3487             | 2203           | 1,34,88,090                    | 658            | 0              | 175              | 240               | 11             | 200            | 3487           |
| Quality                       | 2177             | 381            | 24,68,720                      | 975            | 0              | 470              | 182               | 0              | 169            | 2177           |
| Quantity                      | 206              | 50             | 2,99,610                       | 92             | 0              | 40               | 14                | 0              | 10             | 206            |
| Hygiene                       | 257              | 108            | 18,86,180                      | 82             | 0              | 41               | 15                | 0              | 11             | 257            |
| Violation of other guidelines | 3056             | 562            | 35,57,290                      | 1130           | 0              | 533              | 268               | 2              | 561            | 3056           |
| Total                         | 9183             | 3304           | 2,16,99,890                    | 2937           | 0              | 1259             | 719               | 13             | 951            | 9183           |

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