A pantry car of a train

The Railway Board has refused to bear the expenditure of pantry car and meditation car in the pilgrim circuit trains, supposed to be on the tracks this month.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) had been given the responsibility to run the trains. However, after the board’s refusal, the plan to run the pilgrim circuit trains virtually has hit a hurdle. An IRCTC official says that if the railways do not bear the expenditure, then passengers have to pay the extra price.

The pilgrim circuit trains — Jyotirling Circuit, Jain Circuit, Christian Circuit, Muslim/Sufi Circuit, Sikh Circuit and Buddhist Circuit — has a lot do with Bihar apart from other states. These trains are supposed to cater to the need of passengers coming to Rajgir, Nalanda, Bodhgaya, Pawapuri and Patna Sahib — pilgrim spots for the Buddhists, Jain and Sikh.

Railway minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda had made the announcement during his first budget after the Narendra Modi government took charge. To encourage private partners in the tourism sector, he had said about the pilgrim circuit trains while presenting his rail budget speech.

Requesting anonymity, a senior IRCTC official in New Delhi told The Telegraph: “On September 9, we had written a letter requesting the Railway Board to provide the money to introduce pantry car and meditation car in six pilgrim circuit trains. Recently, the Railway Board had sent the refusal letter in which it had mentioned about unavailability of the funds and asked us to bear the cost.”

It would cost Rs 16 lakh each to make the facilities of pantry car and meditation car in the pilgrim circuit trains. At present, there are 486 trains in India having pantry car.

The official further said: “The total cost would cross more than Rs 1 crore and the IRCTC is not in a position to bear this cost. We have been given the responsibility to run these trains not to bear the cost. We are left with no choice except charging that money from the passengers through the service we will provide them on the pilgrim circuit trains. However, as things stand now, it is not possible to run these trains for at least next couple of months. We will try to convince the Railway Board once more.”

At present, there is no dedicated train for these circuits except the usual trains. To cater to the need of the pilgrims, the IRCTC runs a tourist special train like Bharat Darshan, which changes its destination every year from south, north to central India.

About refusing to bear the expenditure of pantry car and meditation car, a senior official of the Railway Board said on the condition of anonymity: “It is up to the IRCTC to take the final call. The railways cannot bear the cost. It was mentioned in the beginning itself that the IRCTC will bear all the expenses and railways would just provide the train.”