E-Paper
Water vendors make hay while sun shines!
NEXT TIME when you purchase a bottle of mineral water on a moving train, be alert! Unauthorised vendors are selling locally filled bottles of "drinking water" in place of mineral water on board the trains right under the nose of the railway officials who seem completely disinterested in putting a check on the malpractice.
NEXT TIME when you purchase a bottle of mineral water on a moving train, be alert! Unauthorised vendors are selling locally filled bottles of "drinking water" in place of mineral water on board the trains right under the nose of the railway officials who seem completely disinterested in putting a check on the malpractice.
"I usually never checked after purchasing a bottle of mineral water from a kid on board the train. It was by chance that I checked one such bottle after purchasing it while on my way to Delhi and found that it neither had a seal nor the plastic covering these bottles usually have," informed Rajeev Tripathi, a frequent train traveller.
He said that when he pointed it out to the TTE on the train, he simply said, "Chalta hai!."
North Central Railway (NCR) sources said that these vendors are mostly found selling the bottles on trains on platform numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10 at Junction Station.
Sources said, "The unauthorised vendors collect the used bottles abandoned on the compartments, platforms or on tracks. Then they refill these bottles and sell them to the passengers at a price lesser than the actual rate".
The problem is compounded by the fact that these bottles contain water filled either from taps installed on the platforms or from the taps found on the sides of the tracks.
Insiders say, "Though catering and vending services have been handed over to Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) but monitoring of their services should be done at the divisional level".
On being contacted the Public Relations Officer, NCR, RK Srivastava said, "Efforts are being made by the department concerned to help check these practises.
But co-operation of the passengers is necessary. Instead of purchasing bottles from the unauthorised vendors, they should get water bottles from the booths at the platforms."
