Railways serves tea in 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' cups, withdraws after backlash

New Delhi, Mar 29: The Indian Railways has once again come under fire as the passengers on Friday reported that tea was being served in paper cups with "main bhi chowkidar" ('I'm also watchman') written on them.

Following this, the Indian Railways Seva acknowledged the issue on March 29 and asked IRCTC North Zone to look into the matter.

"It happened today but immediately glasses were withdrawn. Penal action is being taken against the contractor. Action is also being taken against the supervisor," the railway ministry was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

As the image of the paper cup tweeted by a passenger on Kathgodam Shatabdi went viral, the Railways said it has withdrawn the cup and penalised the contractor.

It has been claimed that tea was served in these cups twice. The advertisement on the cup was by Sankalp Foundation, an NGO.

This issue comes days after the Railways was found in violation of the poll code for issuing tickets with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pictures on them. Later, the railways said that it was an "unintentional and inadvertent mistake".

"Reports that tea has been served in cups labelled as "main bhi chowkidar" have been investigated. This was without any prior approval of IRCTC. Explanation has been sought from supervisor/pantry in-charges over dereliction of duty."

"A fine of Rs 1 lakh has been imposed on the service provider. A showcause notice has also been served to the service provider for this misconduct," an IRCTC spokesperson told PTI.