IRCTC-

Didi proposes, railway board disposes...
2 October 2010
dipankar bose
KOLKATA, 2 OCT: What railway minister Miss Mamata Banerjee proposes, the railway board disposes.
Miss Mamata Banerjee’s plan to transfer all on-board and static unit catering jobs from the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to the railway zonal authorities in the wake of a spate of complaints from passengers about deteriorating food quality, has been shelved by her own department's railway board.
In a commercial circular (No.-37 of 2010 and No.- 2009/TG.III/600/25, issued on 9 August,) the railway board, referring to the management of departmental catering units categorically stated, "All IRCTC departmental catering units, including Jan Ahaar presently being managed and run departmentally by employees of IRCTC, shall continue to be managed and run by IRCTC departmentally until zonal railways are in a position to take over the departmental catering". The circular, issued by the executive director, tourism and catering, the railway board to all zonal railways, overturns Miss Banerjee's plans to take away catering services from IRCTC and entrust it with IR's own catering department. The order effectively also means that on-board catering services of Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express and Duronto Express trains will continue to be run by IRCTC till further orders.
The circular does not carry any timeline for handing over catering services from IRCTC to the zonal authorities and hence remains vague on the actual transfer of services. At present mobile catering services are run by a select group of 31 contractors for the 264 trains that offer pantry-car facilities. The annual turnover from the lucrative catering business is an estimated whopping Rs 300 crore. Miss Banerjee had also expressed her concerns over the "cartelisation" of catering services among the group of contractors that has been continuing to run the catering business. The railway minister issued an order on 30 May wherein she sidelined her predecessor Mr Lalu Prasad's order of a complete privatisation of the railway catering business. Senior railway board officials, on condition of anonymity, told The Statesman that the issue of creating a fresh pool of staff to run the catering services through the railway zones is the main hurdle in the transfer of catering services. "The circular doesn't essentially challenge or overturn the minister's views. Since IRCTC came into existence, all catering staff of the railway have been transferred and absorbed in other departments across zonal railways. Now, to create similar department strength and expertise, it will take time. Hence, the continuation of IRCTC's services," said an official.