Mothers travelling by train with their babies need not to worry anymore about carrying baby food.  Why? Because Baby food is now going to be available at all major stations under the Waltair division of the East Coast Railway (ECoR).

Following a direction from the Railway Board, the Waltair division has made it mandatory for major canteens and Jan Aahaar stalls to stock baby food, which is now available, with hot milk and hot water, at Vizag, Vizianagaram, Rayagada and Duvvada railway platforms.

ECoR chief public relations officer J.P. Mishra said “We recently instructed shops to keep baby food: it is expected to be made available at all important stations by the end of July.”

This move comes in the wake of a woman having tweeted about milk not being available on station platforms to Railway minister Suresh Prabhu.

Food stall owners, however, are not happy. A food stall owner said “we have invested thousands of rupees more in baby foods after the railway authorities made it mandatory for us to store it. But sales have not been encouraging; and these foods also come with short expiry dates. The railways should give more publicity to this initiative.”

P. Anusha, mother of a two-year-old girl said “it is a much needed solution to problems that mothers have always faced when travelling by train. But one does have doubts about whether there could be some adulteration as there have been issues every now and then to do with bottled water being of dubious origin.”

A Railway official from Waltair division admitted that lack of publicity was the reason behind the low response to the initiative.

The Railway official added “it started only last month, so I am hopeful that sales will pick up in the days to come. We are putting up boards and posters at platforms to advertise baby products. We also need to win the trust of parents.”

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By M. Divya Shri