Mumbai: Central Railway writes to IRCTC, complain of irregular supply of Rail Neer at static catering units

Mumbai: Central Railway writes to IRCTC, complain of irregular supply of Rail Neer at static catering units

Kamal MishraUpdated: Tuesday, March 22, 2022, 08:32 PM IST
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Sanjay Gautam

There is a shortage of bottled water at railway stations. This is what the Central Railway (CR) has stated which has written a letter to Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on March 15. The letter mentioned that supply of Rail Neer at the static units is not regular and due to the ongoing summer season it is required to keep adequate stock. This comes at a time when the daily commuter count on CR has touched an average of 35-37 lakh.

For the past few days now, the temperatures are soaring in Mumbai, even crossing 40 degree Celsius. And with the daily passenger count constantly increasing, the railway officials said that the demand for bottled water or Packaged Drinking Water (PDW) of 'Rail Neer 'at stations are on a rise. At present, there is a monopoly to sell only Rail Neer at railway stations. Plus, the water vending machines too are not functioning which otherwise would have eased the situation.

“We are receiving complaints from static units about shortage in supply of Rail Neer,” said a CR official. They have also written a letter to IRCTC which produces 1 litres bottled Rail Neer at their Ambernath plant and then supplies it to Mumbai and other parts within western region. The letter states that there is irregular supply of Rail Neer at static catering units over Mumbai Division and that the Packaged Drinking Water (PDW) is an important passenger amenity.

'As per sectional CCIs and the various complaints received, it is noticed that supply of Rail Neer at the static units over Mumbai Division is not being regular. Due to the ongoing summer season, it is required to keep adequate stock of Rail Neer at all static units so that the PDW may be available to passengers. As 82 WVMs installed at 55 stations have been terminated by IRCTC, it is essential to ensure the sufficient stock of Rail Neer at all the catering units over Mumbai Division,' reads the letter written on March 15, a copy of which is with FPJ.

The CR officials have said that they have asked IRCTC to provide Rail Neer to passengers and avoid public complaints for which appropriate action to restore the proper supply of Rail Neer is needed. “The demand for packaged drinking water has certainly increased. We were ordering around 20-22 cartons of Rail Neer until last month. This went up by almost 125 percent. However the vendors of IRCTC can barely meet this demand as they supply 35 cartons or so. We are being blamed for not informing them sooner about the rising demand,” said a static unit owner from Dadar.

There are also complaints alleged by these static vendors claiming that they have to pay extra that its actual price per carton of bottled water in case the numbers are more than what they had initially asked for. “We are not permitted to sell other brands of water than Rail Neer. This too needs to be addressed,” said another owner of a food stall on rail premises. Another reason given for short supply is transport of these bottled water which too has become expensive.

Meanwhile the IRCTC claims that there is 'no shortage' in availability of PDW at railway stations and it has been artificially shown. “We produce 14500 cartons of PDW with each containing 12 bottles of 1 litre each. All these are supplied and distributed to static unit owners. There is no shortfall or shortage in Rail Neer,” said an official from IRCTC.

These are produced at Ambernath plant from where it is distributed. Moreover the IRCTC claims that despite reminders made to static units to stock more packaged drinking water, they wait for the last moment.

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