Woman to get compensation for travelling in ‘dirty, rat-filled’ train

After fighting for nearly three years, a city-based woman has finally succeeded in getting compensation for the ‘mental agony’ she suffered while travelling in an ‘unhygienic’ train which was full of rats and dirt. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (South Mumbai) has ordered the Central Railways to cough up Rs 19,000 for failing to provide a hygienic and clean ‘premium’ service to the woman.

The woman — Sheetal Kanakia, a resident of Borivli, had petitioned the forum after her November 2015 trip to Ernakulam. She claimed that during her travel, she had found rats in the train and had brought the same to the notice of the staff. “The presence of rats is a normal thing and we don’t get time to clean such big trains as we get only three hours,” was the alleged response of the staff.

After the response, Kanakia submitted a written complaint to the ticket checker regarding rats and dirtiness, unclean, unhealthy food, breakfast plate, dirty toilets and unclean water supply, which are the basic necessities.

However, there was no response to this plaint by the CR, which prompted Kanakia to file a further complaint alleging that due to the ‘dirtiness and pollution’ in the train and ‘unhealthy food’ she fell ill and was had to visit a doctor.

Kanakia, accordingly, sought a refund of Rs 6,600 which she paid for the premium service. Apart from this, she also demanded compensation to the tune of Rs 20,000 along with Rs 4,000 which were the charges of her litigation before the forum.

Kanakia’s complaint was heard by the full bench comprising president Sneha Mhatre along with members DS Paradkar and MP Kasar.

The forum noted that the CR didn’t submit any ‘material’ to support its claim that fumigation was done on a timely basis and that the train was clean. “We do not agree with the contentions of the railways because it has only resisted the allegations but not attempted to rebut all allegations of Kanakia, by bringing cogent and convincing evidences on record. On one hand, the railways is claiming that the train was properly clean as per normal schedule, all plates and utensil were properly cleaned, food was proper, but on the other hand, the railways failed to submit cogent material in this regard, on record,” the forum said.

“Hence, we find that the railways failed to provide premium service to Kanakia by keeping deficiency in services and playing unfair trade practices, due to which, she suffered mental agony and harassment. The complainant (Kanakia) has proved the substandardness in the services provided by the railways and thus she deserves compensation to the tune of Rs 15,000 with cost of legal expenses of Rs. 4,000,” the forum ruled.