Mumbai: In a horrific incident that occurred on Tuesday, a railway passenger travelling in 12303 Poorva Express on Howrah-Delhi route was served a veg biryani with a lizard in it. The whole incident came to light when a co-passenger took to the social media and posted the horrific image.
“lizard found fried in biryani train no 12303, HA1, seat no , passenger feeling unwell, no medical attention #indianrailways,” zeenews put the tweet on its website. Reports claimed that one passengers got ill and the affected were given medicine.
The incident which could be termed horrific happened just days after Comptroller and Auditor General slammed Indian Railways for a sub-standard quality of food being served in trains. CAG has said food in India's trains is "unfit to consume" and is "unhealthy".
“Articles unsuitable for human consumption, contaminated foodstuff, recycled foodstuff, shelf life expired packaged and bottled items, unauthorised brands of water bottles, etc., were offered for sale on stations,” the audit report says.
According to NDTV, the incident was brought to fore near Patna station where the train took a brief halt afterwards. The group of pilgrims that found the lizard was travelling from Jharkhand to Uttar Pradesh spotted the disgusting "garnish" near Patna.
The report adds that one passenger fell ill and to add to the woes of travellers a railway staffer just threw the food tin out of the train. A complaint to the ticket examiner and the pantry car attendant also went in vain. This is when the passenger decided to take the matter upon himself and tweeted to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.
As a result many senior officers swung into action and were waiting for the train at Mugalsarai station, probably the next stop. The officers also gave medicines to the exposed passengers.
Kishore Kumar, a senior railway officer at Mughalsarai, said the biggest concern of them was to ensure passengers' health.
"Before the train arrived here, doctors inquired about their health and also prescribed medicine. We will investigate and take strong action," NDTV quoted Mr Kumar as saying.
