Indian Railways: IRCTC serves ONLY vegetarian food on Delhi-Katra Vande Bharat Express, becomes India’s 1st train

Delhi-Katra Vande Bharat Express becomes the first Indian Railways train to provide a completely vegetarian environment to passengers with a Sattvik certificate.

Image for representation

The Indian Railways has announced that the passengers travelling from Delhi-Katra in Vande Bharat Express are no more allowed to carry non-vegetarian food onboard anymore. It is to be noted that the passengers travelling from Delhi to Katra will now have a completely vegetarian environment on the train, not only in terms of food served. The kitchen where the food is prepared, the waiters who serve them, and other "neutral" materials like cleaning supplies, soaps, and similar items will all have only ever dealt with vegetarian cuisine.

With the new rule, the Delhi-Katra Vande-Bharat Express becomes the first train in the country to get a Sattvik certificate. By signing a contract with the NGO Sattvic Council of India, the IRCTC decided to pursue this accreditation for some trains that run to holy sites, starting with the Vande Bharat to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Katra, in J&K. There are plans to implement this in 18 more trains, including the Vande Bharat to Varanasi, according to an expert with the Sattvic Council of India. After this campaign is complete, regular trains will be run to Sattvik.

Abhishek Biswas, the creator of the Sattvik Council of India, asserts that a number of procedures had to be completed before the Vande Bharat train could receive the certificate of Satvik. In this, the method of cooking, the kitchen, the serving and storage utensils, as well as the way they were kept were all assessed. Only after finishing the complete procedure was the certificate granted.