The Railway Protection Force (RPF) cracked down on 36 unauthorised hawkers selling edibles on long-distance trains while donning legitimate Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) uniforms on April 4. The accused were apprehended with large quantities of water bottles kept inside Rail Neer cartons. The RPF has arrested nearly 3000 vendors and eunuchs over various irregularities on both long-distance and local trains in the past month in Mumbai and adjacent regions, according to officials.

An RPF source said, “The hawkers worked for two contractors that are empanelled with the IRCTC and are based in Bhusawal. Though the contract is still valid for both firms, the hawkers lacked valid documents.” The accused were booked by the Igatpuri Government Railway Police (GRP). The RPF officers will now be writing a letter to IRCTC to immediately blacklist the firms whose hawkers were caught with forged documents and incurred heavy losses to government revenue.