By IANS,
New Delhi : Expressing concern over catering services of the Indian Railways, many parliament members Monday demanded new lines, trains, extension of routes, increase in frequency of services and new halts in their constituencies from Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi.
Participating in the parliamentary consultative committee on railways meeting here, the MPs suggested measures to rehabilitate displaced vendors and said pantry cars should be introduced in more long distance trains, a statement from the ministry said.
Stating that his ministry had taken several measures to implement the Catering Policy 2010, Trivedi claimed complaints related to catering service came down by 49.9 percent during October 2010 to September 2011 as compared to the corresponding period last year.
As part of the new catering policy, mega base kitchens are proposed to be set up at New Delhi, Mumbai, Secunderabad, Chennai and Howrah.
Responding to complaints about non-availability of affordable ‘janata meals’, Trivedi informed the panel that quality regional culinary specialties at affordable prices, called ‘jan ahaar’, have been introduced and till date, 51 such outlets have been commissioned.
He said a ceiling limit on contracts has been imposed to check monopolistic tendencies in catering contracts.