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Showing posts with label Rail Neer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rail Neer. Show all posts

Thursday, 5 April 2018

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Wednesday, 25 November 2015

23:20

Production of Rail Neer up at Railways Ambernath plant

Production of Rail Neer up at Railways Ambernath plant

Ambernath: Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation officials are confident that with their recent efforts to increase the production levels of its Rail Neer plant in Ambernath, the numbers game of supplying Packaged Drinking Water(PDW) to Mumbai’s railway network is looking good.

IRCTC’s director of catering service RN Kalita said that with the Ambernath Rail Neer plant now producing 15,000 cartons of 12 bottles each, which adds to 1.8 lakh litres of water per day, the situation for Mumbai is healthy.IRCTC has been turning up production of Rail Neer at Ambernath in a phased manner from about 10,000 cartons in mid-October to current levels of 15,000 cartons.

As per the current rules of the railways, stalls on Central and Western Railways will have to absorb the full supply of 1.8 lakh bottles of Rail Neer every day, and opt for private PDW firms for demand above this level. Some stations (called mandated stations) will have to use only Rail Neer. These mandated stations include Churchgate, Marine Lines, Grant Road, Dadar, Bandra Terminus, Bandra, Kandivli and Borivli.

The IRCTC officialdom is now buoyed by the recent verdict of the Bombay High Court, which dismissed the plea of the Indian Railway Caterers Association that had moved court against the railway’s circulars on the pre-eminence of Rail Neer over other PDW brands on the railway network.

As highlighted in October, the IRCTC is betting big on its PDW business. The railways own estimate of packaged water bottles on the railway network is around 25 lakh per day. Of this, IRCTC with its four bottling plants has a capacity of 6.14 lakh bottles per day. In fact, for the current financial year 2015-16, the IRCTC has set a target to produce 16 crore bottles with a turnover of Rs.120 crore. In 2014-15, Rail Neer plants produced 11.8 crore bottles with a turnover of Rs96 crore. In 2013-14, the numbers were 10.45 crore bottles and Rs.88.17 crore revenue.
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08:19

Only Rail Neer at Railway Stations gets Bombay High Court nod

Only Rail Neer at Railway Stations gets Bombay High Court nod

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court recently upheld a circular issued by Indian Railwaysdirecting contractors and caterers having stalls on platforms and railway stations to stock and sell only ‘Rail Neer’ — packaged drinking water supplied by the IRCTC.

While dismissing the petition filed by Indian Railway Caterer’s Association, a division bench of justice SC Dharmadhikari and justice BP Colabawala on Monday said: “Good, clean, hygienic food and drinking water is an objective the railways want to achieve. Therefore, they procured the packaged drinking water under the brand “Rail Neer” manufactured by the IRCTC. We do not see how the petitioners can complain. Their right to deal with and carry on business with railways is in no way being affected.”

The association claimed that by compulsion, the railways are monopolizing supply of drinking water. Further, the compulsion to procure and supply drinking water only from the catering corporation is violative of mandate of Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India. The restriction placed is not reasonable and violative of mandate of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. It was also argued that as petitioners’ members will not be able to stock and supply packaged or bottled drinking water of the brands duly approved by the railways, the choice of consumers will also be restricted.

Additional solicitor general appearing for the railways opposed the plea saying that “There is a clear policy evolved by the railways as regards to supply/sale of packaged drinking water to commuters, since 2001. The implementation was in phases. Now, the railways are confident that the demand for packaged drinking water could be met departmentally or from the sources such as IRCTC alone. Therefore, the right to carry on business of stall owners is neither interfered nor restricted. None can claim a fundamental right to sell food products or drinking water of the choice of licensee and not of the authorities like the railways.”

Singh also informed the court that since the stall owners had stocked up bottle water of other brands, the railway can consider its representation and allow them to clear the stock until then it would not impose penalty or take coercive action against them.

The court after going through the arguments and affidavits held that: “The consumers or passengers are not before the Court complaining about lack of choice, deficient quality of drinking water or drinking water being provided at a price which is not affordable. In such circumstances at the instance of traders and licensees, we cannot take cognizance of the submissions canvassed before us.”
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Tuesday, 17 November 2015

07:28

IRCTC tenders for 6 Rail Neer Bottling Plants by end of January

IRCTC tenders for 6 Rail Neer Bottling Plants by end of January

6 new plants will have a capacity of around 75,000 bottles. Cost of setting up each plant is between Rs 8-10 crore

New Delhi: Rail Neer, the Indian Railways’ bottled water, could see more volumes being added soon with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) planning to finish the process of floating tenders for six more plants by the end of next month.

The new plants would be set up under a ‘Design-Build-Operate- Transfer’ Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. Through this move, the contribution of Rail Neer in the total revenue share of IRCTC is expected to rise by more than Rs 100 crore.

“We are coming up with six more plants under the PPP mode and these plants would have a capacity of around 75,000 bottles a day,” said an IRCTC spokesperson. The six new plants would come up in Parassala near Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Vijayawada, Nashik and Farakka. It might take another two years for the plants to be functional.

Under this model, IRCTC would provide land for the plant. The private player would set up the plant and run it. The cost of setting up each plant is between Rs 8 – Rs10 crore. IRCTC would buy the bottles from the private partners at a discounted rate and in turn sell it to the Indian Railways with a small margin. Distribution would be the responsibility of the private partner.

Till now, Rail Neer has remained at the peripheries, contributing only about Rs 56 crore or eight% to the IRCTC revenue of Rs 720 crore in 2012-13. Internet ticketing and departmental catering have been the bread earners for IRCTC, contributing about 37% and 35% respectively to the total income.

According to industry estimates, the daily requirement of packaged drinking water in the Indian Railway network is about 30 lakh bottles a day. Against this demand, IRCTC provides about four lakh bottles a day. It is expected that the soon-to-be-operational Ambernath plant near Mumbai would spike the supply by about six lakh bottles a day.

The total size of the packaged drinking water is not more than Rs 5,000 crore. Bisleri is one of the largest players with about 60% of the market share in metro and tier I cities. The overall market share of Rail Neer is below one%.

Currently, IRCTC has three plants in Delhi, Danapur (Bihar) and Plaur (Tamil Nadu). The capacity of these plants is between 1-1.8 lakh bottles a day. According to IRCTC officials, two more plants are to come up shortly in Ambernath, Mumbai and Bilaspur. These would be built and owned by the IRCTC.
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Sunday, 25 October 2015

06:52

Railways withdraws 'Rail Neer only' circular, stalls sell other brands as well

Railways withdraws 'Rail Neer only' circular, stalls sell other brands as well

The railways, after causing lakhs of commuters severe hardship with its knee-jerk 'Rail Neer only' water policy at suburban stations for the past one week, has finally started getting a grip on the situation by Friday. Faced with the fact that Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation's (IRCTC)'s Ambernath Rail Neer plant cannot supply the entire demand for packaged drinking water (PDW) emanating from Mumbai's stations, WR authorities early Friday morning allowed stalls to sell other brands as well.

In a reply to dna's query, GC Agarwal, WR general manager, said that IRCTC had written to WR that it will be able to supply Rail Neer to 14 mandated stations (stations where Railway Board has stipulated that only Rail Neer be sold) while the rest of the stations can sell other brands approved by the railways. These mandated stations include Churchgate, Marine Lines, Grant Road, Dadar, Bandra Terminus, Bandra, Kandivli, Borivli among others.
A query sent to CR authorities, including general manager SK Sood, on whether the 'Rail Neer only' circular was one issued in haste elicited no response.

On their part, IRCTC authorities told dna that they would revving up production at its Ambernath plant by November 1. Speaking to dna, Sandip Dutta, chief spokesperson of IRCTC, said, "By November 1, all three shifts will be operated at the Ambernath plant and we will be able to take production to full capacity of 16,000 cases (each case has 12 bottles) per day. Currently, the production level is around 10,000 cases."

Prior to the CBI raid on two top Northern Railway officials charged with conniving with private PDW manufacturers to thwart supply of Rail Neer, the production at the Rail Neer plant was around 3,000 cases.

Officials agreed that the 'Rail Neer only' circular was a knee-jerk one by both WR and CR and was also done without a realistic assessment of the demand for PDW, especially during October when Mumbai tends to experience high temperatures and energy-sapping humidity. While IRCTC's Ambernath plant at full capacity per day can produce 1,92,000 bottles, the total demand for PDW during the summer from Mumbai (both WR and CR) is around 3 lakh bottles per day. Apart from this, a circular issued in August last year (circular number 32 of 2014) mandated that all passengers of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains must compulsorily be given a complimentary bottle of Rail Neer. If the journey is above 20 hours, then the passenger must get two bottles of Rail Neer. This itself adds up to several thousand bottles per day.

"It is possible the CBI raids and previous complaints by the IRCTC that both WR sand CR are not taking their entire quota of Rail Neer being produced at Ambernath plant caused the officials in the commercial department to implement the 'Rail Neer only' circular in haste. What it has done is cause lots of problems to commuters and also revenue loss to railways. Several people willing to pay Rs15 for PDW were turned back at stalls since there was no supply itself," said an IRCTC official.

Numbers game:
Rail Neer daily production capacity - 6.14 lakh bottles
Rail Neer production in 2013-14 - 10.45 crore bottles
Rail Neer production in 2014-15 - 11.8 crore bottles
Rail Neer production target 2015-16 - 16 crore bottles
Rail Neer revenue for 2013-14 - Rs88 crore
Rail Neer revenue for 2014-15 - Rs96 crore
Rail Neer revenue estimate 2015-16 - Rs120 crore

Source :DNA INDIA.
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Tuesday, 20 October 2015

21:17

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu orders review of all catering contracts

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu orders review of all catering contracts

NEW DELHI: Railway minister Suresh Prabhu has ordered a review of all catering contracts and blacklisting of companies involved in unfair and corrupt practices after the CBI unearthed an alleged scam in supply of packaged drinking water 'Rail Neer' and arrested two senior officials Sandeep Silas and M S Chalia. 

The CBI raid against R K Associates has blown the lid off rampant corruption and near monopoly of the company in railway catering business and unholy nexus between senior railway officials and private caterers. 

Over the years, railway catering has emerged as a lucrative business as contracts to provide food is valued at about Rs 2,000 crore a year. About 5.22 lakh meals are served every day by caterers in trains and railway-operated kiosks at stations. 

The decision to outsource food business to private companies was based on sound business logic as catering is not the railways' core business. However, the system could not deliver. 

The railways' attempt to consolidate its share of the profitable food business failed due to its ad-hoc experiments and 'unwise' intervention by political masters. 

During her tenure as minister, Mamata Banerjee came out with a railway catering policy in 2010 which took away catering services from IRCTC, a railway PSU specially set up to provide such services. Today, railways handles the catering business itself. 

Attempts to revamp the catering business were shot down by vested interests

Interestingly, it would be difficult to estimate the railway food business as the transporter doesn't maintain a separate account. The plan to ask passengers for a receipt of food served in mail and express trains, where the food bill is not part of the ticket fare, did not take off. The move was expected to prevent over-billing. 

The alleged Rail Neer scandal also highlights the need for cleaning up the catering tendering process as many feel the current system is heavily tilted in favour of companies which have been in the business for years. 


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Monday, 19 October 2015

10:57

Railway Minister orders probe into Ticket Rigging

Railway Minister orders probe into Ticket Rigging

New Delhi: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Saturday directed the Railway Board Chairman to probe complaints into Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) reservation system and ordered technical audit of online bookings.

“Chairman Rail Board will investigate complaints into IRCTC bookings to ensure full transparency. Complete technical audit ordered for web bookings on IRCTC. No one will be allowed to manipulate a system,” Prabhu said in a Twitter post.

Separately, IRCTC on Saturday said it would  ensure that the supply of Rail Neer will be available in all trains where ever catering service is managed by it. Rail Neer is produced and supplied by IRCTC in trains. IRCTC has set up Rail Neer plants at several places including Nangloi, Danapur, Chennai and Amethi.

While Chennai produces about 15,000 cartons of Rail Neer per day, Nangloi produces about 11,000 cartons and Danapur produces about 7,500 cartons per day. One carton contains 12 bottles. “Our mandate is to produce and supply Rail Neer to Railways and Railways decide on where it will be sent,” said a senior IRCTC official.
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Sunday, 18 October 2015

05:53

Rail Neer scam:Two Officials are suspended -Northern Railway

Rail Neer scam:Two Officials are suspended -Northern Railway

 The CBI today recovered Rs 20 crore in cash during searches at 13 locations against two former Northern Railways officials and seven private firms in connection with alleged corruption in supply of packaged drinking water other than mandatory ‘Rail Neer’ in premium trains. 


CBI sources said a case has been registered against the then Chief Commercial Managers (PS and Catering) of Northern Railways M S Chalia and Sandeep Silas. The Ministry of Railways announced earlier today that two officials whose homes were raided by the CBI stand suspended. 

The agency has also booked private companies RK Associates Pvt Ltd, Satyam Caterers Pvt Ltd, Ambuj Hotel and Real Estate, PK Associates Pvt Ltd, Sunsine Pvt Ltd, Brandavan Food Product and Food World under Prevention of Corruption Act provisions. Silas has served as the private secretary of a former Union Minister.

The sources claimed cash recovery of Rs 20 crore was made from the residence of Shyam Bihari Agrawal, his sons Abhishek Agrawal and Rahul Agarwal who own RK Associates and Brandavan Food Product.

It is alleged that the accused had shown favour to these private firms in supply of cheap packaged drinking water (PDW) other than mandatory ‘Rail Neer’ in premium trains including Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express.

CBI spokesperson Devpreet Singh said it was further alleged that the Railway Board had prescribed that IRCTC shall provide Rail Neer at a rate of Rs 10.50 (approx) per bottle to the private caterers and the private caterers will be paid Rs 15 (approx) per bottle for supplying the same to passengers in premium trains. 

However, the private suppliers in order to obtain undue gain, were allegedly supplying cheap packaged water, other than “Rail Neer”, available in the market at a rate of Rs 5.70 to 7.00 (approx) per bottle, thereby causing gain to themselves and loss to the exchequer, the official said. 

“The accused public servants allegedly did not take any action against the private parties providing catering services in the premium trains despite repeated requests of IRCTC for non-picking of allotted quota of ‘Rail Neer’ by Private Caterers,” the spokesperson said. 

CBI said directions of Railway Board to ensure supply of “Rail Neer” in premium trains were also ignored by the officials thereby causing undue pecuniary advantage to the private parties and corresponding loss to IRCTC. “Searches are being conducted today at 13 places in Delhi and Noida which led to recovery of cash amount of more than Rs 20 crore(approx) and a large number of incriminating documents,” the spokesperson said.

 Source :The Indian Express.
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Saturday, 30 May 2015

11:04

IRCTC Rail Neer demand goes up 50% this summer

IRCTC Rail Neer demand goes up 50% this summer

New Delhi: Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation’s (IRCTC) bottled water – Rail Neer – which accounts for almost a fifth of the total bottled water sold on trains, has seen a 50 per cent rise in sales as temperatures soar. The company is seeing sales of 36,000 cartons daily, against 20,000-22,000 cartons during winters. Each carton has 12 one-litre bottles.

IRCTC has four Rail Neer plants at Nangloi (Delhi), Danapur (near Patna), Palur (near Chennai) and Ambarnath (near Mumbai). “Another plant at Amethi, with a capacity to produce two lakh litres a day, is ready for commissioning,” AK Manocha, CMD, IRCTC, told.

Private suppliers

Interestingly, despite high demand, all Rail Neer bottles, which are produced by Indian Railways’ own subsidiary, are not being entirely picked up, as some zones are resorting to sourcing water from other vendors.

For instance, the Ambarnath unit near Mumbai, which can supply water to Western and Central Railways, operates at 30 per cent capacity due to lack of demand.

This may be attributed to private firms supplying water to some railway zones at ₹1.20 discount against rates charged by IRCTC, which supplies at ₹10 a litre, which the Railways sell for ₹15 a litre.

However, Manocha attributes the marginally higher price at certain places to IRCTC being a government company, which has to be fully tax compliant. It pays an excise duty of ₹2.30 a bottle, and this brings in a huge price gap.

However, there are many zones, such as North Eastern Railway, North Central Railway, North Western Railway, which absorb a lot of capacity. Also, there is demand from Eastern and South Eastern Railway, which IRCTC partly supplies from Danapur. Similarly, Southern and South Western Railway also source Rail Neer.

Also, the pricing of Rail Neer is a function of the location of factories, which is mostly decided on political rather than commercial considerations and adds to transportation costs to the destination.

10% growth

The company has a capacity to produce 14 crore one litre bottles a year, of which 10 crore were produced. IRCTC earned almost ₹100 crore from Rail Neer sales, registering 10 per cent growth.

More Rail Neer plants at Bilaspur, Nagpur and Parassala are likely to be commissioned by December 2015. Projects where land is yet to be made available include Ambala, Lalitpur, Ahmedabad, Nashik and Vijayawada.
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Saturday, 9 May 2015

07:52

IRCTC RAIL NEER MANUFACTURING /PURIFICATION PROCESS.

IRCTC RAIL NEER MANUFACTURING /PURIFICATION PROCESS.

Water drawn from bore wells is stored in an underground reservoir and pumped to the treatment plant designed, engineered and installed by M/s ION Exchange (India) Ltd., the market leaders in the field of water treatment with well over 37 years of experience.

The plant technology employs 8 purification processes capable of yielding water quality conforming to BIS standard IS 14543-2004.

•Activated Carbon Filter; Stage 1 & 2 – Stage 1 removes dust, dead microbes, odour/colour and stage 2 is for removing pesticides.
•Auto Softener Unit (ASF) - Hardness of water is removed by ion exchange resin.
•Ultra Filtration Unit (0.001 micron membrane)–Colloidal, suspended particles and pyrogenic species are filtered out through Ultra Filtration membranes.
•Reverse Osmosis (membrane 0.0001 micron) –All dissolved impurities are removed. Anti scaling agent not used. (All competitors use it to enhances membrane life)
Marble chip filter- To boost "pH". Exclusive process adopted by Rail Neer.
•Two stage Micron Filters (first membrane 1 micron followed by 0.2 micron)- Impurities with size more than 0.2 micron are filtered out.


•Ultra Violet Sterilizer Unit- UV-light causes change in the genetic material of micro organisms and thus prevents them from reproducing.
•Ozonising Unit- Water comes in contact with ozone gas for final disinfection from the micro organisms. The nascent oxygen is powerful oxidising agent and kills the microbes.

Automatic Bottle Blowing Machine:Rail Neer bottles are manufactured with automatic blowing machine (Make –M/s Sidel India Ltd) at plant with high grade resin performs. Preforms are made only with HUSKY or Krosmafi machine.

Automatic Rinsing Filling & Capping Machine:

Bottle blown at blowing machine travels through air conveyer to automatic Rinsing Filling & Capping machine (Make-M/s Hi-Mech) where bottles are rinsed in inverted position by very high pressure jet and water is completely drained out as bottle is inverted then it get filled with the help of nozzle and passed to capper where the same get capped. The temperature of filling area is kept at 20 degree centigrade and this area is completely enclosed and restricted area and no one except filling operator is allowed to enter the area.
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