Staff Reporter
The Railways has withdrawn the paper tea cups being served in train labelled with Main Bhi Chowkidar. The move came after a photo of such cup become viral on social media.
The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in a statement said that the contractor had not sought prior permission for printing advertisements on cups from it.
IRCTC said, it has issued show cause notice to the contractor and imposed a fine of one lakh rupees. It said lapses were overlooked by the onboard supervisory staff and explanation has been called for carelessness.
IRCTC does not allow political advertisements as per its contract with service providers. The matter has also been referred to the EC. “How could they allow this to happen? I was travelling in Kathgodam Shatabdi when I noticed the cup with political message. I complained to the on-board staff also,” said DN Mohanty, a retired IIS officer.
Received this message today from a friend who is a retired Govt of India officer: I am now traveling in 12040 Kathgodam Shatabdi. This photo is taken by me. Not once, tea has been served twice in these cups. https://t.co/1fM2LcI0Lq pic.twitter.com/lqJza5811q
— RaisinaTales (@RaisinaLore) March 29, 2019
Meanwhile according to Hindustan Times, Air India, on Friday, again issued boarding passes with photographs of Narendra Modi and Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, despite saying it has withdrawn such boarding passes on March 25. “AI issued notice on 25.03.19 to all domestic stations to discontinue usage of boarding cards with a Vibrant Gujarat advertisement on reverse with immediate effect. Today’s incident is because of human error. A show-cause notice for this error has been issued to the airport manager of AI at Madurai,” said AI Spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar.