Visakhapatnam: After a video showing spilled out food being refilled into the foil packet at the Visakhapatnam railway station platform went viral, the railway authorities warned the food stall licencee of the concerned and instructed him to disengage the staff involved in the incident. A penalty of Rs 8,000 was also imposed on the food stall. The video shows three people sitting around crates of packaged food that is distributed to railway passengers. One of them is scooping up dropped food and stuffing it back into the foil packet.
After an investigation, it was found that the video footage was a clipping from an old video, informed Divisional commercial manager B. Ramamohana Rao of Waltair Railway Divi-sion. These food packages were not reused as indicated on the social media, the official clarified. “The liceneee of the food stall was warned and he was asked to replace the staff involved in the incident. Also a penalty of '8,000 was imposed on the same day of the investigation,” the officials informed.
The video has been taken seriously as a report tabled by CAG recently in the Lok Sabha claimed that food supplied in trains “unsuitable for human consumption”. The report also claimed that contaminated water was being used to make beverages. Also, rats and cockroaches were found in the pantry and food was being left out in the open at the said food stall that catered to the railway passengers. The Waltair Division official, however, pointed out that during the recent CAG report on catering in railways, Visakhapatnam Station was also inspected and no adverse remarks had been made regarding catering at the Visakhapatnam Railway Station.
The divisional officers have been also conducting special drives on the catering units from July 20. Food stalls were being inspected and food samples were collected and sent for analysis as part of the drive, the officials stated.
