IRCTC Levies Rs. 50 As A Service Charge For A Cup Of Tea Worth Rs. 20 On Shatabdi Express

In a train journey from Delhi to Bhopal in Bhopal Shatabdi, a passenger was charged a hefty service fee of Rs. 50 for a cup of tea costing Rs. 20. After the passenger named Balgovind Verma took this to twitter as many as 3400 retweets were received.

In one of the reply a twitter user said, "IRCTC is a government organisation and all of the service charge is paid to the government. They can't write tax as the consumers or general public is aware, so they have written 'Service'. And now they are duping people tagging it as 'Service'. Good that you shared as being in a similar situation, anybody would order from the IRCTC and not outside vendor.

IRCTC Levies Rs. 50 As A Service Charge For A Cup Of Tea Worth Rs. 20 On Shatabdi Express

The culinary services are expected in high-end trains like Shatabdi, Rajdhani among others. Nevertheless there is no mandate to avail them. So, in a usual case, the passenger is just required to pay for the ticket and catering is not included in it.

Another Twitter user wrote, "I have also seen everywhere n every restaurant take service charges much higher whereas last month gov had declared, service charge should be paid by restaurant, they can't charge to customers..Go to customer forum.. n complain against IRCTC tea (sic)."

As a clarification on the same, as per media reports, railway officials said that no extra money was charged from the customer. Also, in respect of the same they annexed the circular issued by Indian Railways way back in 2018 that says that in case a person who does not books a meal while making train reservation in trains such as Shatabdi or Rajdhani then in such an instance a service charge of Rs. 50 shall become applicable for ordering tea etc. This is even if a cup of tea is ordered.

Earlier as reported meals in such trains were compulsory but now they have been made optional.

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