In a communication to licensees, the Railway subsidiary asked for alternatives to avoid disruption in catering supplies, ready-to-eat food items  

 

Against the backdrop of crunch in LPG supply owing to ongoing tension in the Middle East, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) has advised its licensees to plan for alternate cooking modes to ensure seamless catering services. The Corporation stepped in to stem any possible disruption in food supply chain to travellers, as the country is facing trouble on import of petroleum products. In a letter addressed to all licensees and catering units across the nation, IRCTC asked them to be prepared to switch over to available cooking mediums, in case there is a shortage of LPG cylinders.

 

The kitchens have been asked to shift to microwave or induction sets to tide over any shortage of LPG cylinders but the catering orders must not fall short of demand. Given the issues being faced by markets where hotels and eateries are reporting disruptions, IRCTC directed all its stakeholders to put in place alternative mechanism at the earliest. IRCTC operates base ktchens at major junctions, including Nagpur and Ballarshah stations in Central Railway’s Nagpur Division. Similarly, the South East Central Railway (SECR) has base kitchens at Raipur and Bilaspur stations. The Nagpur base kitchen has capacity to dish out over 3,000 plates of vegetarian or non-vegetarian dishes in an hour while the Ballarshah kitchen has capacity of 1,000 dishes per hour. Besides the Railway entities, IRCTC has also issued licenses for catering to various entities, including food plazas at major stations, and Jan Ahars and Refreshment Rooms and has tied up with several restaurants who provide food on call.

 

At present, LPG cylinders is the primary source of cooking at all the kitchens, while microwave and induction are used for on spot serving of hot dishes. The use of oven and induction sets is, however, only an option as for mass cooking, LPG cylinders is cheapest as well as best suited, said a hotelier at Nagpur Railway Station. The advisory form IRCTC also mentioned that apart from standard PAD and other food items, the licensees are told to maintain sufficient inventory of ready to eat (RTE) food items to meet demand of passengers. Similarly, the West Zone Headquarters of IRCTC has asked the food licensees to notify them in case they continue using LPG media for cooking. Railways supplies food packets to travellers in preimum services like Rajdhani, Duronto, Vande Bharat and Shatabdi on regular basis. On other Mail/Express trains, the food parcels are loaded for which Railways have carried out major modification in coaches to keep the food warm after discontinuing the pantry in long distance passenger carrying trains. So, on daily basis, lakhs of foor parcels are supplies over Railways and hence steps are being taken to ensure that the disrpution is limited. 

 

 

At local-level in particular, Central Railway’s Nagpur Division is holding a meeting on the issue on Thursday, said Assistant Commercial Manager, Catering, Banwari Meena. He said, as of now till next few days, the LPG supply is secured at the base kitchen, but to be on safer side, a meeting is scheduled by Commercial Branch to take stock of the situation. A meeting will take stock of all scenarios and talk to licensees also and plan for alternative scheme with an aim to ensure that travellers food options do not get disrupted due to current disruption in supplies, Meena added.