Swanky stalls

Sudhakar Rao / TNN / Jul 27, 2006, 00:25 IST

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Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation has planned to set up swanky food stalls on railway stations across the state.

VADODARA: To cater to the palates of commuters traveling by trains, the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has planned to set up swanky food stalls on railway stations across the state.
The stalls will replace the existing badly maintained ones located on prime locations on railway stations. Tenders have already been floated for these stalls and contracts are likely to be awarded shortly.
The IRCTC has identified 21 stalls at Surat, Ahmedabad and Vadodara railway stations for the purpose. The idea is to decongest the railway platform with new and swanky stalls, say IRCTC officials.
"The stalls will have automated cooking and vending machines and seating arrangements would be provided in few stalls. We are also expecting prominent brands to take part in the bidding," says an IRCTC official.

In the first phase, tenders for about 100 stalls have been floated in the western region. Thereafter, remaining stalls will be done away through open tenders.
"Stalls providing tea, snacks and fruit juice will be taken up in the initial phase, after which the remaining stalls will go through open tenders," said RD Sharma western region director of IRCTC.
It is the IRCTC and not the stall owners who will decide the rates for eatables. It will be given on five-year license, after which another process of bidding will be initiated, say IRCTC officials.

According to one estimate, there are about 9,000 food stalls on railway stations across the country, the contracts for which have been offered at lower rates in the past.
Once these stalls are put through competitive bidding, the railways' kitty could swell by Rs 1,000 crore, say IRCTC officials.
Meanwhile, caterers, who are already at loggerheads with railways over license fee structure, are opposing the move. In the present system, the stall owners give 12 per cent of the sale to the railways and keep the rest as profit.
"We have been serving at these stations for over twenty years and it is highly unjustifiable to ask us to leave in this manner," said a stall owner at Vadodara.

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