Rail Passenger Paid Rs 70 For 1 Cup Of Tea On Shatabdi Express; Indian Railways Justifies This Insane Price!
A man traveling on a train was charged Rs 70 for a single cup of tea.
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What did the receipt say?
This happened when the individual was traveling on the Bhopal Shatabdi train running between Delhi and Bhopal on June 28.
The receipt noted that Rs 20 was the actual cost of the beverage and Rs 50 was an additional charge.
The person, who is a journalist, shared the invoice on social media.
What kind of charge?
He wrote, “GST of Rs 50 on tea worth Rs 20. Altogether, a tea is worth Rs 70. Isn’t it an amazing loot?”
Another user corrected him and said that it is not GST but a service charge.
It appears that this is not an isolated incident.
The user said that many such complaints were repeatedly made to IRCTC, which provides catering service on the railways, but to no avail.
Railway officials point to 2018 circular
Railway officials set the record straight.
They said that no extra money was charged from the customer.
A circular issued back in 2018 by Indian Railways specifies that a passenger will be charged a service charge of Rs 50 if they do not opt for a meal at the time of booking tickets for trains like Rajdhani or Shatabdi.
This service charge then applies when the passenger orders tea, coffee or food during the journey or in this case, even a single cup of tea.
Added option to refuse meal
Earlier, meal service was included by default in the ticket fare, giving customers no option to opt out from receiving a meal if they wished.
In 2017, it was made optional.
If the passenger wishes so, they can opt out of the catering facility as there are three options for meals — veg, non-veg and no food.
In such cases, they would have to pay only for the ticket, not extra for the food service.
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