Amidst the ruckus in the matter of giving tea worth Rs 20 for Rs 70, Railways has removed the service tax of Rs 50 separately on all food and beverages in all its premium trains.

In the midst of an uproar over the issue of giving tea worth Rs 20 for Rs 70, Railways has waived a service tax of Rs 50 separately on all food and beverages in all its premium trains. But service charges have been added to the food prices. The Railway Board has mentioned in the order that the service charge has been waived from onboard catering. The prices of tea and coffee will be the same for all passengers, whether you have booked in advance or ordered on the train itself. There will be no increase in rates for this.

In these premium trains, if snacks, lunch, or dinner are ordered during the journey, a service charge of Rs 50 will be added to the cost of the meal. Earlier the rates for breakfast, lunch, and evening refreshments were Rs 105, Rs 185, and Rs 90, while an additional charge of Rs 50 was levied with each meal. However, passengers will now have to pay Rs 155, Rs 235, and Rs 140 respectively for this meal. These increased rates will be for those passengers who order food during the journey.

The effect will be seen on tea and coffee
If you have ordered tea or coffee during the journey on the premium train, then you will not get 20 rupees of tea for 70. A railway official said that the benefit of removing the service charge will be visible only on ordering tea and coffee. But passengers ordering food without a booking will have to pay a service charge, which is added to the cost of their meal.

For Vande Bharat trains, passengers who have not booked meal services during the journey have to pay the same amount for breakfast/lunch or dinner/evening snacks as they paid when the service Fee was charged. This is because the increase is shown as the cost of the food, not as a fee.

Under the earlier provision of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), if a person has not booked for food at the time of booking his train ticket, then he will have to pay a Rs 50 service fee during the journey. An additional Rs 50 had to be paid at the time of placing the order, even if he had ordered tea or coffee worth only Rs 20.