Four years after Union railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav replaced plastic cups with kulhars (earthen pots), there has been a decline in its use.
NEW DELHI: Four years after Union railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav replaced plastic cups with kulhars (earthen pots), there has been a decline in its use.
Officials said kulhars are seldom used as passengers do not want them. Many passengers have complained about the poor quality of earthen cups, they said. “We avoid serving tea or coffee in kulhars as passengers prefer user-friendly plastic cups. If they do not wish to use kulhars we cannot force them,” said a senior officer of the Indian Railway’s catering and tourism corporation.
Yadav had introduced the kulhar to boost the dying pottery industry and also give passengers a taste of eco-friendly cups. He had made it clear that hot beverages should be served in only kulhars.
Though no specific allocation was made for kulhars in the rail budget, railway officials said it was included in the target of Sundry Other Earnings, placed at Rs1,072 crore.
“Introduction of kulhars was a good idea as helped the poor. Also, it was an eco-friendly step to minimise littering in and around railway premises,” said Anil Kumar Saxena, additional director-general (public relations), railways ministry.
On the declining popularity of kulhars, he said: “We have not come to know about any such incidents. If at all it is happening, we will find out the reason and make sure that the earthen pots are back in use.”
Saxena said the Indian Railways is committed to making its services passenger-friendly and is introducing innovative measures to make travelling by train safe and convenient.
Vendors said they kept kulhars to avoid the wrath of railway authorities. “If railway officials raid our stalls, we show them the kulhars,” said a vendor at Bhopal railway station.
Many passengers rejected the earthen pots saying they were not user-friendly. “I don’t feel that introduction of kulhars was a good idea. Plastics cups are both trendy and handy. It is good that authorities are not enforcing its use,” said Sadhna Singh, a frequent traveller.
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