Vendors will not be able to sell bottled water at railway stations for Rs 20 in place of the minimum retail price (MRP) of Rs 15. Similarly, railway passengers will be charged no more than Rs 15 for public food (poori-sabzi).

The Railway Board has decided to make the payment of catering cashless from August 1 at all railway stations across the country. That is, vendors will now transact the sale of catering in a digital way instead of cash. Failure to do so can result in a fine of Rs 10,000 to Rs 1,00,000.

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The Railway Board issued instructions in this regard to all zonal railways and IRCTC on May 19. It mentions that all the stalls including catering on the platform will sell the material in a digital way. Along with this, the railways will give computerised bills to the passengers. It is mandatory for vendors to have UPI, Paytm, Point of Sale (POS) machines, and swipe machines for digital payment.

A senior Railway Board official said that apart from stalls, cashless transactions will be done in trolleys, food plazas, restaurants, etc. The Railways will impose a fine of ten thousand to one lakh rupees for not having a digital payment system (POS etc.) or cash transaction with the vendors.

He said that with the implementation of a cashless system at railway stations, vendors will not be able to charge more than the fixed price from railway passengers. Apart from this, passengers will be able to complain in writing against the sale of substandard food, food packets of the expiry date, etc.

Currently, in the absence of digital payments and bills, passengers are unable to register their complaints. With the cashless payment, the passengers will get pure and fresh food at the right price. According to an estimate, there are 30,000 stalls and more trolleys at 7000 railway stations, the official said. Whereas 289 big stalls of IRCTC are at Janahar, Food Plaza-Restaurant, and Railway Stations.

The Railway Board had made digital payments mandatory for the sale of food items in trains four years ago. There is a provision of no bill-no payment in this. In its second phase, this system has been implemented at stations.

Railway Catering Licensee Welfare Association President Ravindra Gupta has termed this decision of the Railway Board as impractical. They argue that the scheme is successful from where the train runs, but it is not possible during the two to a three-minute stoppage at the middle stations. The Internet network is weak at remote stations.