NEW DELHI: Faced with criticism, the
railways has put on hold its plan to serve only vegetarian food on its premises and trains to observe Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary as ‘Vegetarian Day’.
In a recent letter to general managers (GMs) of all zonal railways, the railway board had proposed that
October 2, 2018, 2019 and 2020 be marked as ‘Vegetarian Day’ with no non-vegetarian food served in trains, stations and other premises of the railways.
After widespread criticism of the move, the board on Tuesday asked chief commercial managers of the zones to keep the proposal on hold till further orders.
“It is advised that these instructions may please be kept in abeyance till further directions/clarifications in this regard and issued from the board’s office,” the board’s tourism and catering department said in a letter.
An official said the staterun transporter may promote vegetarianism on October 2 by appealing to people to opt for vegetarian food instead of making it mandatory.