Title - NEW DELHI MORNING SHATABDI Passengers served breakfast after crossing Ambala Shortage of staff leads

Chandigarh:
More than 500 passengers aboard the morning Shatabdi from New Delhi to Chandigarh today had a harrowing time as a majority of them were not served breakfast on time due to shortage of pantry staff. The passengers were even asked to fetch their food from the pantry, if they were keen on having their breakfast on time.Accepting the delay in serving breakfast to the passengers, Gulshan, Railway Senior Divisional Commercial Manager said that a detailed report had been sent to the Northern Railways headquarters for necessary action against the contractor who was responsible for the serving breakfast on the train. He said that the contractor told him that due to the shortage of staff, breakfast could not be served to the passengers on time. After receiving the complaint, immediate remedial action was taken by the authorities in providing breakfast to the passengers.

Sharing his experience on the telephone, VK Jain, who was travelling in Coach Number 13, said that the pantry staff failed to serve the breakfast on time and even the snacks were not served to the passengers. He said that when he enquired from the pantry staff about the delay, they made an excuse that it was due to acute shortage of staff in the train. He said that food was served to them after they crossed Ambala station.

He further said that despite lodging a complaint with the Ticket Traveller Examiner, no action was taken by the official.

Another passenger complained that that there seemed to be shortage of food material also in the pantry, as the pantry staff adopted pick and choose policy while serving biscuits with the morning tea.

One of the passengers said despite of the hefty fare, the service provided by The Railways was very poor. The authorities kept on claiming that after the hike in fares the services would improve, but all in vain.