Court concerned over poor hygiene in Railway Pantry cars

Taking note of an inspection report on poor hygiene in pantry cars in trains, Delhi High Court Wednesday directed the Railway Ministry to inform it within four weeks about steps it was taking to improve the situation. A division bench comprising judges M.K. Sharma and Hima Kohli issued the directions after going through an inspection report by a court-appointed four-member committee about the hygiene conditions in seven trains - the Jammu Rajdhani, Chhattisgarh Express, Karnataka Express, Punjab Mail, Dibrugarh Rajdhani, Purushottam Express and Swaraj Express. The committee report said the hygiene condition in all the trains, except the Dibrugarh Rajdhani, was condemnable. The pantry cars' employees were cutting vegetables on the dirty floor, hot cases were being used as cupboards, boilers and deep freezers were not functioning and the cooked food items were covered with gunny bags.

The committee also submitted to the court photographs of the pantry cars of these trains in support of the inspection report. The bench has been hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by advocate Varun Goswami accusing the railways of supplying unhygienic food to passengers. Appearing for the railways, Attorney General Milon Banerjee submitted that the petition was a motivated one. He also urged the court to direct the committee not to make surprise inspections of pantry cars and railways' kitchens. The bench, however, rejected his submission and directed the committee to inspect private kitchens supplying cooked food to the railways and file a report. Counsel for the railways had in April submitted that his client had appreciated the PIL and was committed to provide quality food to its passengers.

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