Watch! On Indian Railways, tea from toilet water! IRCTC vendor caught on camera, video goes viral

In a shocking video revelation, a casual attitude of Indian Railways towards hygiene has come to the fore once again. A viral video, widely circulated on social media, was reportedly recorded onboard Chennai Central-Hyderabad Charminar Express at Secunderabad railway station in December last year that shows a vendor coming out of a train toilet with tea and coffee cans. When the vendor is questioned by one of the passengers, he denies any wrongdoing. However, vending contractor has reportedly been slapped with a fine of Rs 1 lakh after the authorities concerned came to know about the episode. The incident, however, has exposed the laid-back attitude of the Indian Railways officials despite claims of making efforts to improve hygiene and other facilities in the trains. 
 
Clarifying that appropriate action has been taken, SCR Chief Public Relations Officer M Umashankar Kumar issued a release saying, “An inquiry was conducted, and on the basis of it stringent action has been taken up against the Train Side Vending contractor for the section between Secunderabad and Kazipet, P Sivaprasad, with whom the identified vendor in the video was employed……A penalty of Rs 1 lakh has been levied on the licensee, through the IRCTC, the contracting agency.” 

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The chief PRO said that the two persons seen in the video are unauthorised hawkers, and informed that both the hawkers and many others have been removed from the Secunderabad railway station in the action taken against unauthorised hawking. He also reiterated that Indian Railways officials are on a strict vigil to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. 
 
It may be noted that such incidents have been a reason for embarrassment for the Indian Railways when the department is striving hard to reach world class standards. Recently, Indian Railways has said that it is planning to implement the airline catering model in trains. Initially, the concept is likely to be adopted on those routes where journey is of 5 to 6 hours. Under this catering facility, travellers will be served with high-quality foods in extreme hygienic conditions, as it is served in flights. 

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Under this move, a mini-meal facility will be available for passengers. Sources close to the development informed Zee Business, "Railways will be adopting the concept of mini-meals, which is available in airlines. Under the mini-meal concept, packed food will be served to the passengers." One senior Indian Railways officials stated that this catering service will be started in those trains whose catering facilities are under the control of IRCTC, like Shatabdi Express.