Passenger Accuses Train Staff of Overcharging For Food, IRCTC Responds

In a recent incident reported on social media, a woman recounted her ordeal after placing a food order on a Delhi-bound train. The passenger raised concerns about being charged extra for her vegetarian thali, narrating a confrontation with the train staff over the pricing discrepancy. Soon after being shared, the post gained attention and elicited a response from IRCTC.

Ruchi Kokcha took to the micro-blogging site X (formerly Twitter) to tag IRCTC. “I was travelling from Patna to Delhi In Brahmaputra exp train no 15658 coach M2 (8 dec) with my family. We had a total of 10 seats. We ordered dinner. The IRCTC dinner person told us the price of veg thali to be ₹150,” she shared.

She further mentioned that a scuffle broke out when she asked for the receipt and received a bill with the amount subdivided into two components.

“When he brought the bill he bifurcated the amount into two components: veg thali- ₹80 + paneer sabji ₹70 = ₹150. We asked him to make the bill only for veg thali as we ordered just that. He kept arguing with us for an hour that this is how the bill is prepared. After an hour his official came and said he can’t give the promised bill. They gave us a bill for veg thali ₹80 and said ‘aap itna hi pay kar do’ [You just pay this],” she tweeted.

Ever since being posted on December 9, the tweet has gained over 2 million views.

Responding to the issue, IRCTC said, “Ma'am, thanks for highlighting the matter it is viewed seriously. A hefty penalty has been imposed on service provider . Also, the concerned licensee staff involved in overcharging has been deboarded.”