Title - Priest gets lizard in tea: Kollam railway canteen closed

Railway authorities have ordered to shutdown the vegetarian canteen at the Railway Station here on Saturday, after a customer found a dead lizard in a cup of tea served to him at the canteen.

The dead lizard was found in the cup of tea served to a priest at the canteen around 7.45 am on Saturday.

The priest, Rev Suneeth Mathew, attached to the Salem Marthoma Church, Kundara, had reached the station to pick up his wife arriving by the Veraval-Tiruvananthapuram Express.

Taken aback, he confronted the canteen authorities, who in turn tried to make a compromise with the priest. However, the priest booked a complaint with the Station Manager and demanded action.

It is alleged that the canteen has unhygienic conditions. However, Station Manager Ajay Kumar said that it was an isolated incident and no such incident was reported from the canteen earlier.

The canteen was run on contract by CKK Catering Service, Kozhikode.

The order to shutdown the canteen was made by Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of Thiruvananthapuram Division.

The Railway Health Inspector inspected the canteen.