Gimmick by Indian Railways -“Make railways better”- Improving Food Quality in Railways
First of all I don’t know whether this circle is being administered by Indian Railways. If it is so then they are playing Gimmick with the public by asking for feedback's & suggestions. It is because most of the points that was compiled by them in their “Improving Food Quality in
Railways “report dated January 10, 2015 is out dated and they already have the solution/rule/fine to overcome these problems in their “CATERING POLICY 2010”.
It is their (railways senior officials) inability/unwillingness/cold shoulder in implementing the policy to action.
Let us take the points one at a time and discuss in detail:
Issues Identified(Make Railways Better):
1. Oil used in food is smelly
Root Causes Identified(Make Railways Better):
Catering services are outsourced; system for quality check has serious gaps
Solutions Identified(Make Railways Better):
1. Tough quality checks should be put in place for selecting food vendors
Truth - It is already existing in their CATERING POLICY 2010. If they have forgot their very own policy then here it is, Point No’s -
3.4 - A specialized team of ex-cadre supervisors and officers up to senior scale will be formed which will be filled by incumbents from existing Railway cadres having necessary aptitude, through redeployment as per extant rules by the zonal railways for monitoring of catering services and will be trained by providing in-service training by reputed institutions.
3.5.1 - Zonal Railways will decide the extent, type and scale of catering services required to be provided at each station, on board trains ensuring adequate availability of affordable food for common passengers.
3.5.2 - Zonal Railways will benchmark, standardize and audit production and food processes to improve the quality of mobile catering and base kitchens.
4.3 - With a view to ensuring high quality hygiene, cleanliness and use of standard ingredients for food served on trains, the mobile catering units will pick up meals from nominated base kitchens. The base kitchens would be managed and controlled by zonal railways progressively in phases to ensure quality of the food served on trains.
MECHANISM FOR MONITORING OF CATERING SERVICES
20.1 Inspections/Quality checks
20.1.1 Endeavour should be made so that all catering services should be ISO certified. The ISO certifications should be checked frequently to ensure that those are not outdated.
20.1.2 To provide hygienic and quality food to the travelling passengers and improve the on-board and static catering services a strict and effective system of monitoring of catering services of must be followed. Monitoring of quality should be made through inspections and food quality checks.
20.2 Licencee Managed Units should be monitored for their mechanization and modernization alongwith their performance. Supervision of the services should be made constantly. Zonal Railways should review annually the performance for licencee managed units as per instructions issued by Railway Board from time to time.
20.3 Departmentally Managed Units shall serve as beacon of excellence and define the quality paradigm for the licencee catering units. These units will be subject to rigorous monitoring and supervision through routine, surprise inspections and checks.
20.4 Zonal railways must ensure that duly trained staff are deputed for running these establishments. Efforts should be made to constantly upgrade the skills of the staff and modernization of units by inducting appropriate technology and methods.
Tell me, Now who is Bakra? more
Railways “report dated January 10, 2015 is out dated and they already have the solution/rule/fine to overcome these problems in their “CATERING POLICY 2010”.
It is their (railways senior officials) inability/unwillingness/cold shoulder in implementing the policy to action.
Let us take the points one at a time and discuss in detail:
Issues Identified(Make Railways Better):
1. Oil used in food is smelly
Root Causes Identified(Make Railways Better):
Catering services are outsourced; system for quality check has serious gaps
Solutions Identified(Make Railways Better):
1. Tough quality checks should be put in place for selecting food vendors
Truth - It is already existing in their CATERING POLICY 2010. If they have forgot their very own policy then here it is, Point No’s -
3.4 - A specialized team of ex-cadre supervisors and officers up to senior scale will be formed which will be filled by incumbents from existing Railway cadres having necessary aptitude, through redeployment as per extant rules by the zonal railways for monitoring of catering services and will be trained by providing in-service training by reputed institutions.
3.5.1 - Zonal Railways will decide the extent, type and scale of catering services required to be provided at each station, on board trains ensuring adequate availability of affordable food for common passengers.
3.5.2 - Zonal Railways will benchmark, standardize and audit production and food processes to improve the quality of mobile catering and base kitchens.
4.3 - With a view to ensuring high quality hygiene, cleanliness and use of standard ingredients for food served on trains, the mobile catering units will pick up meals from nominated base kitchens. The base kitchens would be managed and controlled by zonal railways progressively in phases to ensure quality of the food served on trains.
MECHANISM FOR MONITORING OF CATERING SERVICES
20.1 Inspections/Quality checks
20.1.1 Endeavour should be made so that all catering services should be ISO certified. The ISO certifications should be checked frequently to ensure that those are not outdated.
20.1.2 To provide hygienic and quality food to the travelling passengers and improve the on-board and static catering services a strict and effective system of monitoring of catering services of must be followed. Monitoring of quality should be made through inspections and food quality checks.
20.2 Licencee Managed Units should be monitored for their mechanization and modernization alongwith their performance. Supervision of the services should be made constantly. Zonal Railways should review annually the performance for licencee managed units as per instructions issued by Railway Board from time to time.
20.3 Departmentally Managed Units shall serve as beacon of excellence and define the quality paradigm for the licencee catering units. These units will be subject to rigorous monitoring and supervision through routine, surprise inspections and checks.
20.4 Zonal railways must ensure that duly trained staff are deputed for running these establishments. Efforts should be made to constantly upgrade the skills of the staff and modernization of units by inducting appropriate technology and methods.
Tell me, Now who is Bakra? more
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Gimmick -4: By Indian Railways -“Make railways better”- Improving Food Quality in Railways Issue Identified: Food is served cold Root Causes Identified: Lack of proper storage facilities the pantry car Solutions Identified: Food contracts should be reviewed every quarter to keep vendors on toes. Truth - It is the duty of the Railways to modernize the Pantry car thereby providing hot box/trolley/cases, hot packs so that vendors can serve the passengers of the concerned train with hot food. Refer CATERING POLICY 2010 S.No - 9.1 Mobile catering services shall be provided from suitably designed pantry cars and providing equipments with state of art technology. There should be progressive switch over from gas burner to safer electrically powered equipments. Panels, counters, etc. should be made of stainless steel. S.No - 9.5 Pantry cars of Rajdhani Express trains / Duronto trains should be designed to ensure that pre-cooked and hygienically packed food are supplied from base kitchens with minimum handling in transferring the same to the passengers. Suitable space should be earmarked in coaches of Rajdhani and Duronto trains for stacking and service of meals and installation of catering equipments and trolleys. This will eliminate the usage of vestibules and area around the toilets presently being used for this purpose and this will ensure hygienic services. Light weight compact trolleys (specially designed) will be used on Rajdhani/Duronto trains to ensure that food is not kept on the floors of the trains at the time of service. The trolleys would provide quick, clean and hygienic services in trains. S.No - 9.6 All Shatabdi Express/Duronto trains should have mini pantries equipped with modern gadgets such as hot cases, water boiler, bottle cooler etc. in all coaches. There should be no cooking and washing on board. Food should be served in pre-set trays, and service in all the coaches should be through trolleys. more
May 21
Gimmick -3 By Indian Railways -“Make railways better”- Improving Food Quality in Railways Issues Identified: There are many insects running around in the pantry car. Root Causes Identified: Food is prepared and served by people with little knowledge of hygiene/service. Solutions Identified: Clear charter, quality and service metrics to be given to catering vendors. Truth - It is the duty of the Terminal Shed to check & make sure the cleanliness of the bogies and not the vendors they can only upkeep their section and equipments, If you find any problem with the cleanliness in their(Vendor/Service provider) part then they should be fined then and there with a live coverage of the scene for evidence, does the INDIAN RAILWAYS officials have the gut to do this? Refer CATERING POLICY 2010, S.No -9.3 Ownership of pantry car: In order to maintain effective control over on-board services, the Division responsible for the primary maintenance of the train would own the rake of the train and also undertake maintenance of the pantry car. For any complaint in this regard the division concerned would be accountable. S.No -6.1 Zonal Railways will set up a grid of modern mega, medium and small base kitchens to ensure that all mobile catering are serviced through these base kitchens to improve quality, hygiene, cleanliness and use of standard ingredients for food served on trains. S.No - 6.4 With a view to ensuring high quality hygiene, cleanliness and use of standard ingredients for food served on trains, henceforth all mobile catering units will pick up meals on transfer rate basis (rate as fixed by Railway Board) from nominated base kitchens. The base kitchens would be railway specified, supervised and controlled to ensure quality of the food served on trains. S.No - 6.7 The zonal railways will be responsible for ensuring the quality and quantity of food, cleanliness and hygiene of the base kitchens so as to conform to the standards laid down by Railway Board. Zonal Railways will ensure that the laid down standards are strictly followed and progressively all Base Kitchens be ISO 22000 certified. more
May 19
Gimmick -2 By Indian Railways -“Make railways better”- Improving Food Quality in Railways Issues Identified: Pantry car is in a very unhygienic condition Root Causes Identified: Contracts are usually taken by small time vendors/ businessmen who want to make maximum money during contract period Solutions Identified: Contracts should be given to big and established vendors Truth - It is already being run only by a very few big vendors who have a nexus with the officers in the Division & National level, It is same old big rats in different avatars that run the show. Refer CATERING POLICY 2010 9.3 - Ownership of pantry car: In order to maintain effective control over on-board services, the Division responsible for the primary maintenance of the train would own the rake of the train and also undertake maintenance of the pantry car. For any complaint in this regard the division concerned would be accountable. Tell me, Now who is Bakra? more
May 18
