Jan Aahar Kendra remains closed

KOCHI: ‘Jan Aahar Kendra’, an outlet in Ernakulam South Railway Station, opened by the Indian Railways with much fanfare to provide quality food to the passengers at reasonable rates has been closed down owing to the utter neglect by the Railways.The story of utter neglect began after the Railways renewed its catering policy. Under the renewed policy, the catering service was delinked from the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). “The Railways has asked IRCTC to hand over the ‘Jan Aahar Kendra’ to them. But unfortunately, the Railways failed to commit to its duty. Though the Railways has taken over the small stalls as well, they neglected ‘Jan Aahar’ and the result is that it remains closed down,” sources said. They also added that since then, the Railways has done nothing substantial to resume its functioning. Though IRCTC has done a greater deal in making this venture a success at the outset, they said that they could not intervene as it has now gone out of their purview. “How could we do it, when the catering has been taken away from the IRCTC,” asked a highly placed official with IRCTC. When enquired, Sundaram, Senior Railway Divisional Commercial Manager, Thiruvananthapuram division said that they will soon take measures to renew ‘Jan Aahar. “We have just taken it over. This is the transitional period. Complete renewal will naturally take time. Moreover, there are many other small stalls to cater to the immediate food requirements of the passengers,” he said. Sources with the Railways said that this indifferent attitude of the Railways would not do any good as the small stalls they were referring to are privately owned outlets.“It is an obvious fact that this venture is not lucrative and the Railways do not want to burn its fingers by taking up a non-profitable business,” said sources with the Railways.‘Jan Aahar’ was opened a year ago when E Ahmed was the Union Minister of State for the Railways. To be precise, this was the same venture which was once run successfully by the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) before it was completely taken over by the Railways. This novel venture was one of its kind in the state and second in South India.