Now, a bill for what you eat on the train

Mumbai: The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has cracked the whip on the issuance of receipts for the food items sold on trains. A letter issued to all zonal heads on Monday said that a minimum 10 point-of-sale (POS) machines should be provided in each train in their respective zones.

The letter stated the according to a Railway Board directive, it is mandatory for licensees to issue proper bills to passengers for the sale of food items. “However, it has been observed that despite the instructions issued to licensees and IRCTC zones, hand-held electronic bill printing devices are not deployed in trains and cases of overcharging are continuously being received, resulting in bad publicity for IRCTC,” the letter said.

IRCTC had received several complaints from customers on trains that have pantry cars attached, said spokesperson for the West Zone, Pinakin Morawala. Approximately 600 trains have a pantry service, which is overseen by the catering wing of IRCTC.

“Two objectives will be achieved by implementing this measure. The incidences of overcharging will reduce. The move will also help differentiate between licensees and hawkers who enter the train to sell food items,” Mr. Morawalasaid. IRCTC will procure the machines and give them to the licensees.

According to the letter, the zones are expected to carry inspections to ensure that the initiative is being implemented and submit a report by June 1. However, an IRCTC official said they are in the process of floating tenders for the handheld devices and it will take around one month for these to be deployed across trains.