Railway passengers to get north, south Indian cuisine in canteens

Prayagraj: Rail passengers could soon enjoy a variety of north Indian and south Indian cuisines in canteens of the A1 and AB category stations of Prayagraj Division of North Central Railways (NCR). The catering section of the division submitted a detailed proposal to start à la carte at its canteens in different important stations under its jurisdiction. This includes Prayagraj Junction, Kanpur Central, Tundla, Etawah, Aligarh, Vindhyachal, Mirzapur, etc.
Sources inform that the present tariff and menu provided in food canteens at different stations hasn't been changed since 2012. The catering department of the division has proposed the change in tariff and menu in the food items and making it à la carte style four years ago.
However, to date, nothing concrete has been decided by the Railway Board, and the authorities sent another reminder and are also pursuing the proposal to the best of their efforts so that the same can be introduced in various stations. Sources also informed that in the new menu, many items have been added which passengers usually search for during their journey or waiting period to catch the next train. As per the proposal, the canteen would serve new dishes including Dhokla, Poha, Kathi roll, cheese sandwich, rajma chawal, tamarind and lemon rice, curd rice, scrambled egg, veg manchurian, noodles, etc.
The proposal has also taken care of serving Jain food like Dal baati Churma and Ghatta sabji along with oats with branded milk, green papaya curry and the list goes on to have 91 items. In terms of prices, which are prevalent since 2012, authorities have also recommended a hike in prices ranging from 10 to 26%.
The prices were fixed after a proper inspection and survey conducted at Kanpur Central, Tundla, and Prayagraj Junction. The authorities took an average price, and the same was fixed for the proposal sent to the railway board. Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Prayagraj Division, Amit Kumar Singh, said that a reminder was sent to the Railway Board for its approval, following which the tender would be floated, and the selected agency would be outsourced to provide these cuisines in the selected stations.