Title - Shatabdi passengers suffer hunger pangs Lunch served near Azadpur station while it is usually served

Chandigarh:
More than 600 passengers aboard the third Shatabdi from Chandigarh to New Delhi, which leaves at 12 noon, today had a harrowing time as a majority of them were not served lunch on time by the pantry staff. The train was delayed as the catering staff had failed to load the food items on time at the Chandigarh station.Accepting the delay in serving lunch to the passengers, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of the Railways Gulshan said a detailed report in this regard had been sent to the Northern Railway Headquarters to take necessary action against the contractor. He said the contractor told the authorities that owing to a shortage of staff, lunch could not be served to the passengers on time. After receiving the passengers' complaints, immediate remedial action was taken by the authorities to provide lunch to the passengers.Sharing his experience on the phone, Harjinder Jain, a resident of Sector 7, said the pantry staff failed to serve lunch to them on time and even the tomato soup served to him and his wife was cold. He said his requests to serve the meal on time, as he had to take his medicines, fell on deaf ears.

Another passenger Sanjay Sharma complained that after paying such a hefty fare to the railways, this was the service the passengers were getting. Why the authorities claim that after the hike in the fares, the services would be improved. He said lunch was served when the train reached near the Azadpur station, New Delhi, while it was usually served after the train had left Ambala.

Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had stated that the rates of food items had not been revised by the ministry for the past 12 years. The ministry is in the process of revising the rates to improve the quality of food and service, especially in the Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains.

Catering charges

The Shatabdi train has nine chair car coaches with a capacity of 702 passengers and one executive coach with 56 seats. The records revealed that the authorities charge ~124 as catering charges from a first-class passenger and ~83 from a chair car commuter.

Pre-inspection committee formed

Divisional Railway Manager PK Sangi said after receiving a complaint about the shortage of food in the third Shatabdi, they had decided to take action against the contractor. He said a pre-inspection committee was constituted by the department on Saturday and it would monitor the quality and quantity of food before loading it on trains departing from the city station.