Title - 'Stale' food on Rajdhani, passengers fall ill

KOLKATA: For more than 70 passengers of the Sealdah-bound Rajdhani Express, the ride was far from smooth on Saturday. India's premium Rajdhani Express, the ride from New Delhi to Sealdah was far from smooth.

Not only did the passengers of B-11, an AC 3-tier coach of the train, had to bear the brunt of the sweltering heat for over five hours as the train started late following an AC failureas the air-conditioning system of the coach stopped functioning, since the train commenced its journey due to failure of the coach's air conditioning system, they were also allegedly served stale food that led to many falling ill. This isn't all, they were reportedly assaulted and threatened by RPF men when they staged a demonstration at Kanpur, the train's first halt.

The passengers started complaining about the AC failure as soon as the train pulled out of the New Delhi railway station at 4:30pm on Saturday. A team of 66 persons, who had gone to attend a corporate seminar in Delhi, had booked coach number B-11.

"The AC was not working properly and it was like a furnace inside. The food that was served was stale. The yogurt had May 17 as its date of packaging and it was clearly past its expiry date. The chicken curry was almost rotten and the rotis had green fungal moulds on them. Many of us fell ill and started vomiting," said Sharmistha Mukherjee, one of the passengers of the coach. "It was a harrowing experience," said co-passenger Barnali Kar.

The passengers alleged that when they complained about the stale food to the pantry boys, the latter said they could not do anything about it. "After some passengers fell ill, we asked for a doctor but there was no doctor around. We then complained to the coach attendant, who said that but were startled to hear him say that he was new in the job and would thus be of no help," added Kar.

After reaching Kanpur around 9:30pm, the passengers of the coach, most of them women, got down on the platform to protest. "Surprisingly, while we were staging a protest against the AC failure and quality of food served to us, RPF men suddenly started pushing and heckling us. No woman RPF constable was present at the spot. One of the jawans also threatened that we would be sent to jail if we continued with our protest," the passengers alleged. The train finally left Kanpur at 11:30pm.

Passengers of other coaches also complained about the poor quality of food served to them. "My daughter Trisha, who studies in Delhi University and was in another coach (B-3), said that she could not take the soup that was served to her. I have travelled in Rajdhani Express several times and found that the quality of food has deteriorated now," complained Ranjit Chatterjeee, who received his daughter at Sealdah. Among the passengers of B-11 coach were Sumita Chakraborty, wife of singer Nachiketa Chakraborty, who had reached Sealdah station to receive his wife.

"The railway authorities have increased fares, but have not improved the service. Instead, service has deteriorated. My wife told me that the woman passengers of the coach who were protesting at Kanpur railway station were heckled by RPF men there," said Nachiketa.

As soon as the train arrived at Sealdah station one-and-a-half hours behind schedule at 11:45am on Sunday, the passengers of B-11 coach started protesting again. Two of the passengers almost collapsed after coming down on the platform. The irate passengers demanded an explanation from the railway authorities.

"A railway official apparently alleged that a group of drunk passengers had boarded the train. How can somebody sit in Kolkata and tell whether we were drunk or not?" the passengers fumed. A complaint was lodged with the Sealdah GRP after the passengers arrived.

However, divisional railway manager (Sealdah) Suchitto Kumar Das said: denied that the air-conditioning system of B-11 coach had stopped functioning or that the food served to the passengers was stale.

"The engineering staff at Kanpur checked the AC compressor and found them to be working well. The temperature inside the coach was also within the permissible limit of 22 to 25 degree Celsius. The food was also checked and nothing was found that could cause food poisoning," he claimed.