Dad’s stormy letter brings baby food to stations
BHOPAL: A letter from an anguished father who could not feed his one-and-a-halfyear-old daughter throughout his more than 15-hour train journey has prompted the Indian Railways to make arrangements for baby food at stations under the Western Central Railway.
Puspendra Tiwari was travelling with his family from Manmad in Maharashtra to Damoh in Madhya Pradesh in Kamayani Express on August 23 when the nonavailability of baby food meant his infant daughter went hungry throughout the
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Between Manmad and Damoh, not a single station had any baby food. We completed our journey in pain. I immediately wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office chronicling our ordeal. PUSPENDRA TIWARI, complainant
journey even as the family found itself helpless.
“The train stopped at some 35 stations between Manmad and Damoh, but not a single type of baby food was available at any of the railway stations. My daughter was constantly crying, and I felt helpless that I could not do anything for her. I requested vendors to arrange the baby food from somewhere, but they informed me that it was not available with them or at the stations,” said Tiwari.
”We completed our journey in pain. I immediately wrote a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office chronicling the ordeal,” he added.
The PMO wrote to the WCR and the latter reportedly apologised to Tiwari for the inconvenience.
In the letter, assistant commercial manager, WCR, Nitesh Kumar Sone, said the strict instructions had been given to all the stalls and station authorities to ensure baby food was available at the stations and no one experiences what Tiwari did.
In June last year, a mother, who was travelling with her toddler son, had tweeted about the lack of baby food at station to the then railway minister Suresh Prabhu.
Taking note of the tweet, Prabhu had announced the launch of a facility setting that provided baby food at stations.
Named Janani Sewa, the facility, which provies baby food, hot milk and water, was introduced at 25 railway stations across the country. The route Tiwari’s family travelled in, however, was not covered under the scheme.