Passenger Finds Cockroach in Vande Bharat Express Meal
A man named Dr. Keshari traveling from Bhopal to Jabalpur on a Vande Bharat Express found a dead cockroach in the non-veg thali served to him by IRCTC.
The Vande Bharat Express trains are one of the many new symbols of pride in India. It is superfast, air conditioned, punctual, neat, clean & hygienic. Or is it? It looks like from recent news that Vande Bharat’s hygiene has been compromised. A passenger named Dr. Keshari traveling from Rani Kamlapati station, Bhopal to Jabalpur on Vande Bharat Express on 1st February 2024 was shocked after he found a dead cockroach in his meal. Dr. Keshari filed an official complaint with the West Central Railway after getting down at the Jabalpur railway station. He also shared the incident 2 days later i.e. 3rd February 2024 on X (Twitter) by posting pictures and tagging Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The first picture showed the formal complaint that Dr Keshari made with the West Central Railway in Jabalpur. In his complaint, he also mentioned the name of his co-passenger, Rajesh Shrivastava, as a witness. The remaining pictures show the dead cockroach in the non-vegetarian thali that he had ordered. After the tweet gained heavy engagement, IRCTC replied through comment. In the comment, IRCTC apologized to Dr. Keshari and assured him that the matter is being taken seriously as a hefty penalty has been imposed on the concerned service provider. They also said that the service monitoring has also been strengthened at the source to avoid recurrence of such incidence in the future. Railway Seva also responded to the tweet and said that a complaint has been registered on RailMadad. Keshari's tweet has received more than 50,000 views so far and the numbers are still increasing. It received many comments criticizing IRCTC. One of the X (Twitter) users wrote,“No matter how good a train is, these contractors have destroyed the experience of passengers.” Another individual commented “Disturbed to see why channel partners are violating food safety norms” while third expressed “Thanks for exposing the quality, never gonna order in railways from now.” Notably, this is not the first time a passenger travelling on Vande Bharat Express has experienced such a disturbing situation. Back in July 2023, another passenger traveling from Bhopal to Gwalior on Vande Bharat Express had also found a cockroach in his meal served by IRCTC. How will we be able to count Vande Bharat Express as one of the symbols of India’s pride if such incidents continue to happen?
