Southern Railway has terminated the agreement with a contractor who has been operating a vegetarian food outlet at Ernakulam Town railway station, due to consistently poor service and a major food poisoning incident which took place earlier this year.
The contractor has also been debarred from participating in Indian Railway tenders for a year and the security deposit remitted by him has been forfeited.
He has been asked to vacate the premises by Sunday, after the Railways decided not to accept his request/explanation to forgive him, in the wake of a show cause notice.
He will not be permitted to vend food at platforms either, Railway sources said.
Following the termination of the agreement, the Railway had shut down the eatery on Friday night.
This followed an inquiry conducted by the Railway’s commercial wing and lab results of food samples collected from there.
As an alternative to commuters, the food plaza operated by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has been asked to prepare more vegetarian dishes.
A proposal to permit Kudumbasree to open a food counter here is yet to materialise, sources said.
At the Ernakulam Junction station, a Kochi-based star hotel is likely to be entrusted with the task of operating the food plaza which is now shut down, they said.
- Action follows consistently poor service and a major food poisoning incident
- Security deposit of the contractor forfeited; railways reject request to forgive
- The food plaza operated by IRCTC directed to prepare more vegetarian dishes