Railways pass blame with new catering policy

Jul 24, 2010 - Age Correspondent |

New Delhi

Having stripped the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) virtually of all its catering functions, the railway ministry is now busy blaming the public sector undertaking for failing to deliver quality food on board trains.

What the ministry will not tell you, however, is that it was the Railway Board itself that was playing a decisive role in determining the food menu, the rates at which it would be sold and even how the business of awarding contracts would be gone about.
Under the railways’ new catering policy unveiled on Thursday, catering for trains will be looked after departmentally.
Of course, the Railway Board was playing the role of controlling authority for the IRCTC as per the rules. So if the IRCTC failed to deliver on the catering front, the Railway Board was equally to blame, said a senior railway official. As the official pointed out, the member (traffic), Railway Board is the chairman of the board of directors of IRCTC. Moreover, even though the IRCTC is a PSU, the Railway Board continues to exercise control over its catering functions. So if anybody needs to take the blame, it is the ministry, remarked a railway official.

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