Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is in the process of tying up with the Punjab and Himachal Pradesh governments for managing eating joints on highways. The corporation is working out the modalities of handling the joints that are not making much profit.
The venture is part of the IRCTC to expand into catering. The corporation is in the process of approaching various state governments as well as institutions for entering into tie-ups with them. An agreement has been reached with the Punjab government for managing a few eating places on the Delhi-Amritsar highway. The exact locations are yet to be finalised. R K Sondh, Chief Regional Manager of IRCTC said that the governments have their own properties at places where they have constructed restaurants on the highways. “However, due to certain reasons these are not profitable ventures. IRCTC will step in to run these places,” he added. “We will hire our own staff, which will be well trained. People will be picked up from institutes of hotel management. The aim is to run these places efficiently and provide people with quality food at reasonable prices. Apart from venturing into providing catering services in different institutes, we are focusing on providing affordable packages to tourists for various destinations,” said Sondh. IRCTC is also planning to expand into Himachal Pradesh. While talks are on, a final agreement is yet to be reached. The corporation has ventured into providing catering services at institutions. A few months back, the canteen at Punjab Engineering College University of Technology was taken over by the corporation. Talks are on with institutes in the city for providing catering services in hostels