Cases of illegal serving of liquor in Rajdhani trains

New Delhi, Aug 3 (UNI) Cases of serving and selling foreign liquor in Rajdhani Express and other trains at Nagpur station by coach attendants and pantry workers had come to the notice of the Railways, the Government today informed the Lok Sabha.

Minister of State for Railways R Velu said in a written reply that on June eight, six bottles of liquor were seized from the bedroll supplier working under private contractor in Nizammudin-Bilaspur Rajdhani Express at Nagpur station.

Similarly, on July 18, two bottles of liquor were seized from the bedroll supplier in Nizamudin Rajdhani Express at Nagpur station.

''Both the bedroll suppliers have been prosecuted under section 144 of the Railway Act, 1989. Instructions have been issued to Zonal Railways to conduct surprise checks in Rajdhan trains to prevent such activities.

Mr Velu said the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation's officers conduct surprise and random checks to prevent serving or selling of liquor in trains and take deterrent action to curb such illegal practices.

Replying to another query, the minister said an Integrated Train Enquiry System (ITES) would be set up by providing call centres in the North, East, West and South Zones of the country for dissemination of information on train running status, PNR status, availability of accommodation alongwith other value added services.

''These call centres are to be based on a self-sustainable model to the extent possible. Commissioning of call centres is planned during 2006-07,'' he added.

To a questioner, the Minister said that as announced in the Railway Budget 2006-2007, the Railways had initiated action to review the All India Time Table de-novo.

In the first phase of the exercise, 140 trains have been made superfast.These timings have been reflected in the July-November edition of the timetable.

''The second phase of the exercise is still on and the results will be reflected in the Time Table to the released in December,'' he said.

UNI SKS RP VV1949