Rly milk vendors told to sell ‘Rail Neer’ only

Nagpur: The Central Railway directive to milk parlours not to sell packaged water bottles other than ‘Rail Neer’ has left them in the lurch.
There are over 20 milk booths/parlours at stations in Nagpur division spread across Itarsi to Ballarshah. On July 2, all these vendors have been told by the commercial department that they will not sell other brands of packaged water.
On June 21, Mumbai-based chief commercial manager (CCM), RB Dixit, had issued a circular asking officials to impose a fine of Rs20,000 on the booth owners found selling water other than ‘Rail Neer’ brand.
The milk parlours in the division are mostly run by cooperatives like Amul, Mahanand and Sanchi. They have termed the Central Railway directive as draconian.
Interestingly, several of the milk parlour owners have already paid royalty to the Central Railway till December 2016. “Railways is stopping us from selling other packaged water brands midway. The decision should have been implemented next year,” a section of them told TOI on condition of anonymity. “The move has come during monsoon when sale of packaged milk products is already low. During rains, we survive by selling only packaged water,” they said.
Another difficulty with selling ‘Rail Neer’ is that it is not available easily as there is no plant in the division. The booth owners have to order it from Mumbai or Nashik where the units are situated.
The booth owners say cooperatives work with already thin margin and with this decision it will be more difficult now. On the contrary, other stall owners have been given a free run to sell other available brands including Pump Up listed by the Railway Board and available here.
When contacted, senior divisional railway manager (SrDCM) KK Mishra said, “The directives are from the Railway Board. The basic idea is that passengers should get dairy products. It was found that these booths had turned into more of packaged water sellers.” Mishra added the basic purpose was being defeated and hence Railway Board must have taken such a decision.
However, South East Central Railway (SECR) SrDCM Arjun Sibal said, “We have not received any such order from the headquarters yet. It is also true that ‘Rail Neer’ is not always available.”