Following complaints by passengers of being overcharged for meals and other edible items, the ministry of Railways issued a formal rate card for its catering services.
The ministry posted a list of food items along with its price on its Twitter handle. In the same tweet, it also urged passengers to file a complaint if they were charged more than the actual listed price.
The tweet said, “Know the rate list of @IRCATERING in case of any discrepancies must reported to @RailMinIndia: We work for you 24×7 (sic),”
The prices on the rate card were decided after a round table conference was held to discuss the issue. The conference saw participation from representatives of food and beverage industry, government agencies, self-help groups and railway officials who raised concerns over ‘poor quality’ and ‘over-charging’ of food items.
The ministry also released a video stating the actual prices of the various food items.
A Hindustan Times report says that the ministry had been receiving complaints about quality of food, price and catering services on various grievance portals and social networking websites. According to the contract between the vendors and IRTC, the former is not allowed to charge more than the established price by IRTC.
Last month, the Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu had also started a new catering policy by segregating cooking and food distribution. He had said that the food will prepared at a base kitchen but distributed by suppliers from the hospitality sector.