The Jan Aahaar vegetarian refreshment stall is bustling with activity with passengers taking a short break to have a quick lunch, on a week day afternoon, before rushing to board long distance trains.
At a corner is a table on which are stacked baby food, cream, milk powder and feeding bottles. On Wednesday evening, the ‘Janani Seva’ – kiosks to dispense baby food and other essentials — was commissioned at the Jan Aahaar’s main outlet on platform no. 6.
“The stalls have been opened to ensure that essential items which parents need to feed their babies during the long journeys are made available,” said staff. The Janani Seva kiosks would also have hot water so that baby food can be prepared instantly. Though the staff are yet to receive a detailed note on pricing and sale of baby food – either in limited quantities or only as full packets, they also said that permanent arrangements were yet to be made and that they were selling baby food from a corner of Jan Aahaar as a temporary measure.
Passengers said there were no signages anywhere in the station indicating the location of the Janani Seva kiosk. They said the railway administration staff should also make available facilities for sterilising feeding bottles they bring along with them. If baby food can be sold in sachets in smaller quantities, it would be beneficial to parents.
Officials said that they had launched the new initiative only on Wednesday and it would take a while for them to fine-tune it to suit the requirements of passengers. Pricing and other issues would be sorted out at the earliest, they said.
According to them, several passengers had tweeted to the Railway Ministry and also the Minister requesting help to arrange for baby food.
Reacting to the tweets, officials would arrange for the same in the stations en-route. This was an important reason why the Ministry decided to have Janani Sewa kiosks in 25 important stations to begin with.
