CR to earn ₹32 lakh per month from hawkers on long-distance trains

The Central Railway in India will allow hawkers to sell non-catering items and wares in AC and non-AC coaches of long-distance trains, potentially earning ₹32 lakh ($44,700) in revenue per month. The railway has appointed a contractor who will employ 300 hawkers on over 150 trains. Each hawker can earn between ₹500- ₹700 per day. The hawkers will be regularised and provided with QR-coded uniforms for monitoring purposes. However, there have been no bidders for a proposal to operate 1,500 hawkers on local trains.

The Central Railway’s (CR) decision to allow hawkers to sell non-catering items and wares in AC and non-AC coaches of long-distance trains is likely to help it earn ₹32 lakh in revenue every month, officials said.

STORY ON RAILWAY , DELHI TO MUMBAI -- vendors selling fruits in Sleeper class coach of Golden Temple Mail train , To go with Srinand Jha 's Story . PHOTO-ARVIND YADAV /HT 23JAN09

CR authorities have appointed a contractor who in the next two months will employ 300 hawkers on board more than 150 trains to and from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus.

On an average, a hawker earns ₹500- ₹700 per day, a CR official said. “The contract is around ₹3.80 crore which we will receive annually. We will regularise these 300 hawkers and they will also be provided with QR-coded uniforms which can be scanned for their name, Aadhaar, and photograph etc.,” the official said.

For purposes of safety, the private bidder will submit the names of vendors, their Aadhaar details, character certificate from the police, and medical certificate from a recognised hospital. “Hawkers usually jump inside the moving train from platforms and sell products. Once this process is complete, hawkers will become part of a databank and can be monitored,” another official said.

However, there have been no bidders for a proposal to operate 1,500 hawkers inside 1,810 local trains running on the Central and Harbour lines.

In December last year, members of several passenger associations met senior CR officials expressing their displeasure over the proposal and urged them to withdraw it. They also demanded that hawkers should not get on local trains in peak hours.

“Until now, vendors were entering and selling inside long-distance trains. Now that they have made it official, the authorities should also fix a time frame for these vendors to move inside coaches,” said Lata Argade, member, Railway Passengers’ Association.