A live insect has been seen in the passenger’s plate with her breakfast on board the Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi is enough to prove this that Indian Railways is now turned to be expensive, this is because it was ordered by the Chandigarh Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum to pay her Rs 10,000 as compensation.
The catering and tourism department of the railways was also directed and said to refund Rs 270 catering charges for the breakfast to the Sector 21 occupant and resident which is actually part of the ticket price anyway.
Shalini Jain, traveling with her two sons on July 3, 2016, from Chandigarh to New Delhi, also founded the live insect in her food which was served to her in the Shatabdi.
However, she pointed it out to the catering staff, and she did not say anything and she returned the food packets to them, including that of her sons, and she also said that she doesn’t want to eat “unhygienic and unhealthy” food, Jain submitted in her complaint also.
It was also said in the complaint that the staff offered Jain another pack of food, but she did not accept it. Also, when she asked the training staff, and the train ticket examiner (TTE) to provide her the register so that she can lodge a complaint, but they did not give it the same.
Subsequent, to the incident Jain, said she had also sent a complaint to the Railway Minister on 12th October 2016, but no reply was received yet.
It was presented to the consumer disputes forum that Jain had also filed a complaint with the Railways’ Act forced sale of meals on passengers as per pre-decided menus and served “unhygienic, infested and unpresentable food at the period of the journey,” which amounted to unfair trade practice, as well as, deficiency in service.
At the same time, due to the other allegations were deprived of, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation also denied, that this had no role in providing the catering service on the train (No12006 – Kalka New Delhi Shatabadi Express) and that the catering service on the mentioned date was provided by a service provider engaged by Northern Railway, as per the Catering Policy 2010 anyway.
Besides directing the Indian Railways to pay the compensation, the forum also observed “…. Despite detail instructions, as contained in the revised Catering Policy, 2010, that is circulated by Commercial Circular NO.35/2010 by Government of India, no effectual steps have been taken by most of the Railway Zones to uplift the quality of service of food to the passengers on board”.
The forum also stated, “This is a serious lapse on the part of the Catering Officials especially Supervisor, who miserably failed to supervise the preparation and service of food to the passengers on the train. The complainant has paid Rs 270 as catering charges, but could not eat the meal and suffered a lot and even her little kids were deprived of meals during the journey.”
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