GUWAHATI : To ensure greater supervision of the quality of food served in trains, the Northeast Frontier Railway is installing CCTVs in base kitchens. Already three of the eight base kitchens in N F Railway have been fitted with CCTVs and the rest are to be provided with CCTVs by end of this month. Live feed from the base kitchens will be available in Divisional Commercial control rooms for constant monitoring.
By this the official will be able to monitor whether basic hygiene standards are being adhered to and that the kitchens are free from pests. CCTVs have also been installed in four food plaza stalls and three fast food units. Thus out of 26 fixed catering units, 11 have been fitted with CCTVs till date, the NF Railway CPRO, P J Sharma informed.
Moreover, to do away with complaints of over changing IRCTC has started price tagging of all meals available aboard trains and static units in stations. NF Railway has a total of 684 static catering units, in all of which price tagging and prominent display of rate chart has been insured. Where recent check conducted by the commercial department revealed that tea cups available in stalls were not sufficiently sized to provide the charged quantity of tea, hefty penalty has been levied on the vendors and a general instruction issued that paper cups would have to be of size more than 150 ml size so that 150 ml of tea could be conveniently provided.
Provision of digital payment has also been started in 34 static units and 27 trains of N F Railway where customers and passengers can pay through credit/debit card, paytm and BHIM app, instead of cash. N.F. Railway plans to facilitate digital payment of catering cost in all trains and all static units by end of this financial year. To sensitize the public about the need for asking for proper bill against payment, a slogan saying “NO BILL – FOOD IS FREE” has also been printed on tickets all over the zone.