Indian Railways to offer veg-only menu on Gandhi Jayanti

The special menu for Gandhi Jayanti will have stuffed parathas, kulchas, paneer dishes and varieties of desserts.

If you’re travelling on an outstation train on October 2, be prepared to veg out. On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will be introducing a special vegetarian menu on the trains and no non-vegetarian options will be available on this day.

“The instructions have been given to IRCTC operating in all zonal railways to serve vegetarian meals on the trains. The vegetarian meals will be served on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti,” said IRCTC spokesperson Siddharth Singh. Passengers starting the journey on October 1 will be able to select from either vegetarian or non-vegetarian food, but if the journey spills over to the next day, they will only get vegetarian fare. If the journey continues till October 3, non-veg food is back on the menu.

In January, the railway board had put forward the idea of serving on vegetarian meals on October 2 and the decision to implement this plan was taken last week. The special menu for Gandhi Jayanti will have stuffed parathas, kulchas, paneer dishes and varieties of desserts.

Central (CR) and western railways (WR) will also launch digital museums and undertake cleanliness drives to mark the anniversary. Titled ‘Swachhata Pakwada’, the cleanliness drive will start on September 15 and end on October 2 and will focus the cleanliness of railway premises, with special emphasis on toilets at stations.

Digital museums will be set up at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Thane and Lonavala railway stations, and they will showcase the freedom struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi as well as the history of Indian railways. “The first passenger train operated between Bori Bunder railway station and Thane railway station. The digital museum will also display the operation of the first train along with the backdrop of railways history,” said SK Jain, divisional railway manager, central railway.

CR is also planning to depict Mahatma Gandhi’s life story at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) since Gandhi had visited the terminus.