A special drive has been started by East Central Railway to check unrecognised packaged drinking water and other food-related irregularities in the pantry car and other catering units of the train. A total of 2778 bottles of packaged drinking water kept in 232 cartoons were confiscated in various trains during the last 2-3 days, which were destroyed.
In this sequence, a surprise inspection of the pantry car of train number 12577 Darbhanga-Mysore Bagmati Express was conducted at Darbhanga station on August 30. During the inspection, 240 bottles of packaged drinking water of illegal/unrecognised brand kept in 20 cartoons were confiscated, which were destroyed at Darbhanga station. After this, the catering facilities were also checked in various coaches of this train between Darbhanga and Samastipur, in which 816 bottles of illegal water kept in 68 cartoons were confiscated. Similarly, between Saharsa and Patna, 576 bottles of illegal/unrecognized brands kept in 48 cartoons from the pantry car of 22914 Saharsa-Bandra Terminus Humsafar Express and 12 cartoons kept in 12 cartoons from the pantry car of 14015 Raxaul-Anand Vihar Terminus Sadbhavna Express. 144 bottles of packaged drinking water of unrecognized brand were seized which were destroyed at Patna/Raxaul.
During the surprise inspection, strict action was also taken against those selling drinking water at more than the prescribed price. During the checking of 12553 Saharsa-New Delhi Vaishali Super Fast Express on August 31, a fine of Rs 20,000 was imposed on the contractor of Pantry car when the matter of selling drinking water at a price higher than the prescribed price came to light.
The surprise check continued on September 01 also. During this, 582 bottles of packaged drinking water of illegal/unrecognized brand kept in total 49 cartoons were seized at 11062 Jayanagar-Mumbai Pawan Express, 15705 Champaran Humsafar Express and stations which were later destroyed.
In this sequence, the pantry car of 12303 Poorva Express between Ara and Buxar under Danapur division was checked on August 30 in which action was taken against the passengers found illegally traveling in the pantry car under the Railway Act.