new Delhi. Before the construction of the new Parliament building, a change has started in the arrangement of the Parliament complex. After 42 years, the railway canteens in Parliament House will now become a part of history. The Lok Sabha Secretariat has decided to withdraw responsibility for canteens from Railways and hand them over to the Tourism Development Corporation of India (ITDC) on 15 November.
With this decision, it is clear that from the winter session, the ITDC will now look after the catering system in the four canteen of the Parliament House complex. With this, the remaining minor concessions for canteen subsidy will also be eliminated. In such a situation, everything from tea and breakfast to food and drinking in the cantons of Parliament will be expensive. The Lok Sabha Secretariat had made up its mind to change the system in the beginning of this year in view of the questions raised about subsidy in the cantons of Parliament.
ITDC had also been short-listed as the new canteen operator. But the managers and operators of the Railway Catering Service, which have been operating the canteens of Parliament for more than four decades, did not expect the Lok Sabha to hand over its Boria Bed Dam canteen to a new operator.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat has issued a letter to the Northern Railway Catering Division on 19 October directing it to hand over all the goods and crockery of the four canteens of Parliament House to the ITDC on 15 November. However, the reason for not taking away the responsibility of the canteen from the railway has not been given. All the employees of Railway Catering posted in the cantons of Parliament have also been directed to be sent back to their cadre.
Apart from the main building of Parliament, about 450 employees work in the reception, library building and railway canteens running in Parliament House Annexe. They are all railway employees. Therefore, they will be returned to their department. In 1968, the Railways was given the responsibility of running a canteen in view of the problems faced by the catering system.
It is said that it improved in 1971 based on the report of the Salve Committee and started providing food at concessional rates. The canteen opened in the Parliament House Annexe in 1972 and the canteen of the Library Building started in 2002 during the Vajpayee government. There has been a long debate in the canteen of Parliament House regarding the concession of food items. It is believed that to end this dispute, this task is being entrusted to ITDC, a Government of India undertaking of five star hotels.
The MPs themselves approved the proposal to end canteen subsidies in December 2019. In such a situation, the price of whatever food the ITDC serves will be higher. Parliament’s canteen subsidy is currently around 18 crores, of which the subsidy on food items is more than a crore rupees. While the remaining Rs 17 crore railway takes as part of the salary paid to its 450 employees.
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