Kolkata, July 18 (IANS) Passengers of the Mumbai-Howrah Duronto Express Sunday night staged protests at the Howrah station here after the discovery of a cockroach in a meal supplied on the train.
The passengers alleged that while the cockroach was found in the rice, several other food items given for lunch Sunday were either stale or of poor quality.
Some of the agitators alleged that 15 passengers were taken ill by consuming the food.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) admitted the discovery of an ‘insect’ in rice.
‘The food was packed and loaded in the train during its operational stoppage at Bilaspur. After we served them food, one of the passengers complained of having found an insect in his rice,’ IRCTC Group General Manager, East Zone, Amlan Biswas told IANS.
‘In such situations, we change the food. But the passenger did not ask for a change. Instead, he clicked a photo of the insect in the rice and mailed it to television channels,’ he added.
He alleged that some passengers later started creating a ruckus when one of their fellow passengers had a heart attack near Kharagpur.
‘They linked the heart attack case to what they called serving of stale food. But in reality, there is no relation between the two.’
Biswas also denied that 15 passengers had taken ill, saying ‘none of them went to the doctors at the station for treatment when the train arrived at the Howrah station at 7.40 p.m. All of them went home.’
