Lost supper: Jan Ahar stalls to shut down

KOCHI: Jan Ahar stalls, which provided breakfast, lunch and dinner at dirt cheap rates, may finally close down after Indian Railways, which took over the catering service from the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) nearly two years ago, incurred heavy losses.
The stalls, run by IRCTC, were introduced with much fanfare in 2009, and immediately became popular with daily commuters and long-distance travellers for providing quality food in the range of Rs 10 to Rs 35.But after complaints cropped up regarding food served in trains, Indian Railways started directly operating these stalls from 2010.
According to Southern Railway officials, nearly 2,000 people used to buy food daily from the Jan Ahar stall at Ernakulam Jn alone.
Not surprising, considering that a plate of Poori Masala used to cost only Rs 10.
And almost all items in the menu were available 24/7 at these stalls.
"After the commercial department of the Indian Railways ignored the projects for almost a year, the Jan Ahar stalls are running at a huge loss. We have a no choice but to close them down. Railway officials are not interested in setting up an alternative scheme only for Kerala. We have asked private caterers to display price charts and are monitoring them to ensure that the passenger is not fleeced," a senior Railways official said.
The IRCTC is also not interested in reviving the catering project.
"The catering services, including Jan Ahar stalls, were taken over by Railways from us in 2010. We have no role in the running these stalls, and we are not planning to start anything soon," said V Sreeram, southern regional director of IRCTC. Predictably, private caterers have lost no time in expanding their services and introducing inflated menus at all major stations.