[Resolved]  Irctc — Grievance against high prices charged against MRP.

Through this letter I want to bring to your kind attention, the blatant flouting of the norms by the IRCTC approved “Rail Aahar” vendors on most of the railway stations. One such intolerable incident was experienced by me at Bhopal Railway Station while I was travelling from Gwalior to Mumbai on 0132 AGC CSTM Super Special Express on 19th May 2009 (PRN No. [protected]). It was around 2315 hrs, when the train arrived at Bhopal RS. In search of Soft Drinks, I approached one “Tirupati Associates” on PF no. 1 near to the Digital Clock and Cold Water Point and asked for a 500ml pet bottle of Limca. Instead of the printed MRP of Rs.20/-, he asked for Rs.25 from me for the same. I argued with him that why is he charging Rs.5/- extra despite the display on his shop mentioning that “Packed items are sold in MRP prices”. He countered that Rs.5/- is against the cooling charge of the soft drinks. I asked him for his vendor licence no. and threatened him of complaining such menace to the IRCTC authorities, but he did not budge and neither provided me his licence no. He fearlessly exclaimed that all the vendors of Bhopal RS charge the same amount and so does he. Such types of practices are being continuously carried out on many Railway Stations, mainly with respect to Soft Drinks, Mineral Water and Ice-Cream kind of stuffs.
It is my humble request to you to take proper and strict action towards such vendors, who violate and ruin the common law and equity. I also suggest improving and enforcing certain strict guidelines to curb this out and impose heavy penalty to the offenders.