‘Poor quality’ iftar, sehri served in intercity trains

Passengers were charged exorbitant prices for Sehri and Iftar and supplied substandard food for the meals on trains, Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association (Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity) said on Tuesday after visiting 14 intercity trains.

The association's Secretary General Md. Mozammel Haque Chowdhury made the allegation while citing their observation report on the matter sent to the Advisor to the Ministry of Railways Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan.

The report said that on the first and second days of Ramadan, members of the organisation inspected the Sehri and Iftar supplies on 14 intercity train services.

It was found that substandard food and unsuitable Sehri were being supplied in almost all the trains. Negligence in packaging the Sehri caused the food to be spoiled by the heat and the items were seen being supplied to passengers on various trains, the association said in a statement.

The catering organisations are not supplying the Iftar and Sehri in the quantity that was supposed to be provided, it said.

Although it is mandatory for every train to display the price list of Sehri and Iftar items by the Railways in a visible place for the passengers of each coach, it was not found in any of the trains.

Although there is a rule to collect the price with a receipt, it was seen that catering establishments had been collecting the price of these meals without a receipt.

In addition, every catering establishment is charging an additional price without following the price fixed by the Railways authorities in every train.

To protect the interests of passengers, the association demanded that arrangements are made to display the price list of Sehri and Iftar in a visible place in each coach of the train and passengers are charged for their food with a receipt provided.

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