Cockroaches, sudden delay irk passengers

CHANDIGARH: For almost seventy passengers who boarded the coach adjoining the pantry of the Bharat Darshan tourism special train on Friday, the journey didn’t begin on a very happy note. The passengers found cockroaches inside the water drum kept in the pantry.
Lt Col Nand Lal Verma, who boarded the S8 coach of the special train along with his family members from the Chandigarh railway station, noticed three cockroaches in the water drum.He said when he raised the issue with the pantry staff, they refused to respond, but later, the pantry manager came to the coach and assured him that the drum would be refilled with fresh immediately.
G S Verma, another passenger travelling in the same coach said the train which was scheduled to depart from the Chandigarh railway station at 7.10am left at 9.56am and no prior information was given to the passengers about the delay.
IRCTC chief regional manager Gulshan said that the water in the drum was not used for cooking, but it is for cleaning the pantry after serving the meals. The water which is used to prepare food during the journey is of RO filtered and the drinking water bottles were filled from specified destinations approved by the railways, he said.
Gulshan added that the drum water is also used to chill the juice boxes and other drinks during the journey in case the refrigerator breaks down. As far as the journey delay is concerned, the IRCTC has no role in it, he added.
Passenger Ramesh Kumar said that the drinking water which was served on the train this season was not chilled and the warm water packs brought no relief from the hot weather. He said that the IRCTC charges each person Rs 11,340 for a for 12-day journey, so passengers expect better facilities.
Bhushan Verma, another traveller said that the coaches in which the arrangements are made are very old and not well maintained. “When the IRCTC is using these coaches on a regular basis, why are they not maintaining them?” Verma said.