An attendant serves food on a train. Telegraph picture

The new chairman and managing director of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), A.K. Manocha, has issued directives to field officials to make a list of problems they face.

Manocha, who assumed charge after replacing R.K. Tandon on Monday, held an important meeting with senior officials in Delhi’s IRCTC headquarters where he issued the directives.

A senior official of IRCTC, present in the meeting told The Telegraph: “The directive has been issued by the new chairman in which he asked field officers to list problem which they face on a daily basis while implementing passenger amenities. We have been asked to identify as many problems so that senior officials can look for the solutions.”

Last month, IRCTC had written a letter to the Railway Board and expressed displeasure after Indian Railways fined them Rs 1 lakh after a cockroach was found in food served in the Calcutta Rajdhani Express. In its letter, IRCTC had said that the railways should not treat them as a licensee agency.

Asked about the reason for issuing the directive, the official said: “It is being done to improve the efficiency and upgrade the passenger services. Most importantly, it would help point out hurdles of railways, which sometimes obstruct the functioning of the IRCTC. Sources said the directives have been issued to make a good impression and give a boost to the IRCTC’s image, which has taken a beating owing to certain incidents.

Despite criticisms regarding quality of food served on trains, IRCTC’s annual turnover has increased to Rs 950 crore in 2013-14, from Rs 700 crore in the financial year 2012-2013. On August 27, it created a record and reached a milestone in internet ticketing when 7 lakh people booked their tickets through IRCTC website in a single day.

The official said: “Even the top officials of the railways, including the chairman of IRCTC, has been given the task by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A meeting was held recently in which Modi asked top officials to identify 10 things, which were good in the previous government, 10 things that were bad and a similar number of things that were implemented even though officials did not like it. I think we are going through a serious phase in which officials from top to bottom are on radar and nobody can escape.”

Modi had recently expressed concern over the poor working condition in Indian Railways and had come up with a few suggestions. Based on these suggestions, cabinet secretary Ajit Seth had wrote to the Railway Board chairman to improve work culture and environment for employees. A copy of the letter was also sent to the then chairman of IRCTC.

On the time-frame in which field officials would send the list, the IRCTC official said: “There is no time-frame as such but they are expected to send it on a regular basis following which it would be forwarded to the Railway Board to seek a solution.”

Regional manager, IRCTC, Patna, S.A. Karim could not be reached for comment.