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IRCTC contractor charges passenger ₹5 extra for water bottle, fined ₹1 lakh by railways
The fine has been imposed on M/s Chandra Mauli Mishra of Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda, a licensed contractor with the IRCTC
A day after a train passenger complained of being sold packaged drinking water for ₹5 more than the MRP, the Ambala railway division on Friday imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on a catering contractor for overcharging.
The fine has been imposed on M/s Chandra Mauli Mishra of Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda, a licensed contractor with the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) for train number 12231/32 (Lucknow-Chandigarh-Lucknow), officials from the commercial branch of the division said.
The train doesn’t have its own pantry car and depends on on-board vendors authorised by IRCTC. Mishra was awarded the contract by IRCTC on December 1 this year. It was extended twice to end on the last round trip of the train in Lucknow on December 17.
On Thursday, Shivam Bhatt, a passenger travelling from Chandigarh to Shahjahanpur on 12232 (Chandigarh-Lucknow) train had posted a video on Twitter, claiming that the water bottle was being sold to him at ₹20, despite having an MRP of ₹15, by a man named Dinesh.
Soon after the complaint, Dinesh’s manager Ravi Kumar was arrested in Lucknow under Section 144 (1) of the Railways Act and the commercial branch made a recommendation to divisional railway manager (DRM) Mandeep Singh Bhatia to impose a fine.
“The regional manager (RM) of IRCTC was summoned to Ambala and informed about the case. It was also discussed how to improve on train-side vending and overcharging complaints,” said Hari Mohan, senior divisional commercial manager.
Speaking to HT, DRM Bhatia said after receiving a sanction and checking the licence documents, a fine of ₹1 lakh was imposed on the contractor and the IRCTC RM was informed.
“Over 1000 unauthorised vendors have been prosecuted in the division since April 1 this year to curb overcharging. A 15-day special drive has also been launched for concerted action against overcharging in coordination with RPF and other staff,” he added.
