Rail vendors overcharge for water and snacks at stalls

The department of legal metrology on Monday registered cases against the stall vendors at railway stations on the western line for overcharging of bottled drinking water and soft drinks. At least seven cases were registered during a joint raid conducted by the department of legal metrology and Government Railway Police (GRP) of western line.

On Monday, both the teams conducted checks at the stalls selling products like packaged drinking water, soft drinks and other eatables. The raid was conducted to ascertain whether the products were sold at the said Maximum Retail Price (MRP).

During the raid, the teams found that stall vendors had violated the package and commodity rules set by the legal metrology department. “We registered at least three cases at Mumbai Central railway station, Bandra station and Grant Road station for non-compliance of rules set by the legal metrology package and commodity rules 2011. The cases were registered due to absence of name of manufacturer and its address,” said an official from the department of legal metrology. The officials also said that at least two cases were registered for overcharging of soft drink bottle.

“At least two cases were registered against the stall vendor at Dadar station for overcharging the soft drink bottle. The vendors were selling soft drinks by charging them for three rupees extra at their stall in Dadar. A case of smudging of MRP rate on bottled water was also registered against a stall vendor,” added the official.

The cases were registered against the stall vendors under the legal metrology act of 2009. “We are conducting a detailed investigation on the registered cases. After the investigation, the stall vendors would be prosecuted if required,” said the official.