IRCTC Asked Railways To Build Food PLazas
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has asked Railways to rethink the order which will let them build food plazas on rail land. And as they asked, an order was issued on March 8 which states that the Railways permitted 17 zones to use the vacant space to build those plazas.
In that order, the Railway said, “Setting up of food plaza/fast food units/multi-cuisine restaurants by Zonal Railways at the vacant/non-utilized space available at railway stations… References have been received from Zonal Railways seeking permission to operate major static units (Food Plazas, Fast Food Units, and Multi Cuisine restaurants) in view of the fact that many spaces allotted to IRCTC have continued to remain vacant thus leading to non-provision of passenger service and loss of railway revenue.”
And the IRCTC spokesperson Anand Jha stated, “Currently, there are approximately 300 food plazas under operation by the IRCTC and over 75 more are expected to be finalised in the coming months. The IRCTC has requested the railways for reconsideration of its decision.”
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IRCTC Returned 40 Food Plaza Spots
As per the sources, IRCTC returned almost 40 food plaza spots to Railways. This decision was made due to the non-bidders who are not available to participate because of poor financial health. Poor site locations and pandemics are two other factors for IRCTC’s decision.
According to the sources, “There had been non-operation and some closure of the units too. The railways had extended its benefits of reduction of license fee payable by its licensee-based catering units too. Two years of a pandemic cannot be ignored when business over the railway station almost came to a standstill. Scope of work for food plaza operation was drastically curtailed.”
The facts point out that the Railway earns the approximate amount of Rs.120 crore from such units. Refreshment centers, Janahaars, food plazas, and fast food units are srouces of this income.
