The State-run Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) suspended two senior officials and issued show-cause notice to a catering contractor on Monday, a day after 26 passengers travelling by Goa-Mumbai Tejas Express took ill after eating food served on board the train.
While the IRCTC’s Area Officer at Madgaon and the Manager on board the train were suspended, the IRCTC served show-cause notice on the catering contractor.
The IRCTC initiated action against two officials and catering contractor, pending an inquiry it ordered into incident. A committee, comprising a senior DCM, ACMS of the Central Railway, and AGM of IRCTC has been set up to look into the incident and fix responsibility for it. The passengers were travelling by Mumbai-bound Tejas Express from Karmali in Goa to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) suffered food poisoning, after consuming breakfast served on the train on Sunday morning.
After the affected passengers complained of uneasiness, the train was stopped at Chiplun where they were admitted to a local hospital. The suspected food poisoning came to light after two children vomited on board the train. Before long, the passengers seated in two to three different fully air-conditioned coaches complained of nausea, uneasiness and some of them vomited. Among the affected passengers were two groups of passengers — from Himachal Pradesh and from West Bengal. It may be recalled that Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had on May 22 this year flagged off India’s first luxury train Tejas Express from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Mumbai to Karmali in Goa, amid fanfare.