Sir, As soon as a train leaves the platform to commence its journey, all types of hawkers, both licensed and unlicensed, churmuriwalas and other food item sellers board the train to start their business, as if it is their right to be there. In addition to this, bhajan and film song singers and beggars, all ticketless, invade the compartments and torture the passengers throughout their journey. Of all eatables sold in the trains, groundnut is the real culprit. Most of the passengers lack civic sense. They buy time-pass kadlekai and after peeling the groundnuts, throw the shells below their seats making the compartment dirty. Sometimes, the same rake performs two or three trips in a day after changing the engine at the destinations, leaving little time for the cleaning staff at the terminal stations to clean the carriages after each journey. It is, therefore, desirable to ban the sale of groundnuts in trains in order to maintain cleanliness in the compartments at least to certain extent. Hope the Railway authorities will take note of this and act positively in the matter.
- V.R. Srinivasa Murthy, Brindavan Extension, 31.5.2018
