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Passenger complains of high meal prices, IRCTC penalises service provider
The train passenger alleged that the staff inflated prices adding unnecessary components to meal bills.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Saturday penalised a train food provider after a passenger took to social media to complain about overpricing on the bill.
“The IRCTC dinner person told us the price of veg thali to be ₹150. We clearly told him we will need the bill. When he brought the bill he bifurcated the amount into two components veg thali- ₹80 + paneer sabji ₹70 = ₹150,” an X user complained to IRCTC. “We asked him to make the bill only for veg thali as we ordered just that. He kept arguing with us for an hour that this is how the bill is prepared.”
After an hour, an official intervened, admitting the inability to provide the promised bill and settling for ₹80 for the veg thali. “They gave us bill for veg thali ₹80 and said ‘aap itna hi pay kar do’,” she added.
Dissatisfied, the passenger alleged that the staff fooled customers by inflating prices and adding unnecessary components to bills, urging Indian Railways to address this issue.
“Clearly the staff is looting the public by giving the meal overpriced and then adding other components to the bill. Please look into this as this kind of behaviour is tarnishing the image of Indian Railways,” she said.
In response, IRCTC, the central public sector enterprise that provides ticketing, catering, and tourism services for the Indian Railways took prompt cognisance of the matter. “A hefty penalty has been imposed on service provider,” IRCTC said, adding that the concerned licensee staff involved in overcharging has been deboarded.
The incident sparked user discussions on the need for a more comprehensive approach to prevent such occurrences in the future.
“I can’t be sure that a one-time hefty fine dissuades them from doing anything like this in the future. The idea is that they shouldn’t even dare to challenge the rights of the passengers going forward. Can IRCTC revisit at least conceptually this time what it would need to do further to instil this sense of awe in the service providers?” a user replied.
“The irony is these things happen almost daily in most of the trains and some action happens after complain. But why it keeps happening on a daily basis ?” another X user said.
