Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has been mandated by Ministry of Railways to set up Packaged Drinking Water (PDW) Plants for production of PDW under the brand name “Rail Neer”. Six Rail Neer PDW plants are presently operational, out of which four plants at Nangloi (Delhi) (2003), Danapur (Patna) (2004), Palur (Chennai) (2011), Ambernath (Maharashtra) (2014) have been set up by IRCTC from its own funds. Two more plants, one at Amethi (Uttar Pradesh) (2015) and another one at Parassala (Trivandrum) (2016) have been set up by IRCTC under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
IRCTC at present produces approximately 7.6 lakh litre of Rail Neer PDW per day against requirement of 25 lakh litre PDW per day.
In instances of non-availability/short supply of Rail Neer PDW, Zonal Railways have been delegated powers to shortlist and empanel Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) approved PDW brands of private companies for sale at railway stations and on trains.
As only shortlisted BIS approved PDW brands of the empanelled private companies have been permitted for supply/sale on mobile units and at Railway stations through authorised static units, there has been hardly any complaint across Zonal Railways with regard to quality of the BIS approved PDW supplied to passengers. However, whenever complaints of unauthorised supply/sale of inferior quality non-approved brands of PDW are received, suitable action, including imposition of monetary fines, is taken as per rules against the defaulting licensees depending on the gravity of the lapse.
IRCTC at present produces approximately 7.6 lakh litre of Rail Neer PDW per day against requirement of 25 lakh litre PDW per day.
In instances of non-availability/short supply of Rail Neer PDW, Zonal Railways have been delegated powers to shortlist and empanel Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) approved PDW brands of private companies for sale at railway stations and on trains.
As only shortlisted BIS approved PDW brands of the empanelled private companies have been permitted for supply/sale on mobile units and at Railway stations through authorised static units, there has been hardly any complaint across Zonal Railways with regard to quality of the BIS approved PDW supplied to passengers. However, whenever complaints of unauthorised supply/sale of inferior quality non-approved brands of PDW are received, suitable action, including imposition of monetary fines, is taken as per rules against the defaulting licensees depending on the gravity of the lapse.
