South Central Railway (SCR) on Wednesday slapped a Rs 1 lakh fine on a vending contractor after a video surfaced on the internet suggesting that water from train toilets is being used to make tea and coffee.
The video that has been doing rounds on social media was recorded last December onboard the Chennai Central-Hyderabad Charminar Express at Secunderabad railway station in Hyderabad. It was uploaded on the internet recently and gained massive traction.
It shows some vendors coming out of train toilets with cans, suggesting they used the water from the washroom to prepare tea and coffee. The vendors were unauthorised hawkers, engaged by platform catering stalls.
“An inquiry was conducted, and on the basis of it, stringent action has been taken up against the Train Side Vending contractor for the section between Secunderabad and Kazipet, P Sivaprasad, with whom the identified vendor in the video was employed… A penalty of Rs 1 lakh has been levied on the licensee, through the IRCTC, the contracting agency,” SCR chief public relations officer M Umashankar Kumar said in the release.
One of the vendors, on further enquiry, said that they were only transferring the leftover beverage in the toilet to sell it in their respective stations. He further claimed that toilet water was not mixed and they did it inside the toilet to avoid public eyes, as reported by Outlook.
“The Commercial Department of the SCR has been carrying out extensive drives against unauthorised hawking at Secunderabad railway station in the last few months, during which all hawkers, including the two involved in the incident, were removed,” Kumar added.
A strict vigil was continuously being kept at various levels to ensure that no such incidents recur in the SCR Zone, the official said.
The Logical Indian take
The issue was brought to notice because one concerned passenger made a video and decided to make people aware of the misconduct of the vendors. This video held vendors accountable and opened eyes of the public about the type of food and beverage being served. It is imperative that as passengers, we bring to light any such instances where people’s health might be at risk.
