Indian Railway has a new way to ensure its customers do not get ripped off by contractors supplying food on trains: People are getting their food for free if no bill for their order is generated.
In a video released on Twitter on Saturday, October 27, the Central government said it had ensured Point Of Sale (POS) devices are available with contractors so they can issue bills for food on the spot.
The step has been taken following numerous complaints that contractors tasked with providing food on trains are inflating prices.
Contractors have come under fire for actions like the time when one of their employees was caught on camera using toilet water to make tea.
Indian Railway has been struggling with passenger complaints over food price and quality for quite some time now.
This was what led to the Railway tweeting out the exact price of all food items sold on trains, which turned out to be much cheaper than those charged arbitrarily by contractors.
Now, with the POS device service being started on trains, the contractors are expected to find it even more difficult to play around with the prices of food items on trains.
According to the government video, POS devices have been introduced on 185 trains across the country.
Feedback is now being collated from the passengers of these trains, which is expected to help spread the service to even more trains.
The POS devices, which print out bills there and then, may have virtually tied the hands of contractors and their employees, especially because the Central government has ruled that if these bills are not generated, railway passengers have the right to not pay for their meal.
Watch the video here:
To eliminate overcharging in trains @RailMinIndia has introduced Point of Sale #POS machines for compulsory billing of food, leaving a zero margin for overcharging.
— PIB India (@PIB_India) October 27, 2018
Passengers can refuse to pay for the food they have consumed if they haven’t received a bill.#Railways pic.twitter.com/IADJMnazUW
