Days after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) rapped the Railways for poor onboard catering services, a passenger found a dead lizard in the veg-biryani served to her in the New Delhi-bound Poorav Express on Tuesday evening. The Railway Ministry on Wednesday cancelled the caterer's contract.
The passenger, Allahabad High Court advocate Santosh Kumar Singh, underwent a health check-up in Patna, Buxar and then again at Mughalsarai in UP, where senior Railway officers were also present.
Singh said he planned to file a PIl in a court against the caterer. "My mouth is full of ulcers and I have trouble urinating. I have consulted a doctor and have to go for another consultation," he said.
"In view of the Railway's zero tolerance policy towards poor quality and overcharging of food, the Railway administration has terminated the contract of the catering contractor, RK Associates, for the Howrah-New Delhi Poorva Express," Railway Ministry spokesperson AK Saxena said.
According to series of tweets by a co-passenger, the passenger had ordered and eaten the dish without noticing the lizard but felt unwell later. The co-passenger, Meghna Sinha, had also shot a photograph of the biryani packet and posted on social media including Twitter and tagged to twitter handle of Indian Railways as well as Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.
The Ministry tweeted that the catering contract on Poorva Express was given to RK Associates on May 15, 2014, for five years. The caterer was fined `10 lakh last year and ` 7.5 lakh, it said in another Tweet. The passenger, who had asked for the biryani when the train was near Jhajha, Bihar, also uploaded a complaint on Twitter. Responding to the complaint, the Minister's office asked the traveller for travel details.
The spokesperson said in the last six months, the administration had terminated the contracts of eight catering units. "It is unprecedented the number of contracts that we have terminated in the past six months. In the last year, 16 such contractors were also blacklisted. We have also financially penalised the offenders," Saxena said.