After litti-chokha, it's now the turn of famous Hajipur bananas.
Going by his resolve to serve the train passengers with "pure, indigenous items" Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad now intends to offer fresh fruit juice and bananas grown in Hajipur to railway passengers.
"We are making arrangements so that any demand by passengers of fresh fruit juice or fruits could be satisfied in trains,"" Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said in Gwalior recently.
Though a directive in this regard is yet to come, the proposal, if implemented is likely to benefit thousands of banana farmers in Vaishali district, including Raghopur, the Assembly constituency of former Chief Minister and leader of Opposition Rabri Devi.
"We will do the needful as and when the directives come," said A K Chandra, Chief Public elation Officer (CPRO), East Central Railway (ECR).
Earlier, in 2004, Prasad had announced the use of khadi and kulhars (earthen cups), mathas (salted curds) in trains and litti-chokha stalls at stations.
Only litti-chokha stalls turned out to be successful while others flopped. His move to transport vegetables from Bihar to the national capital also boomeranged.
The Railway Minister's move to introduce kulhars in railway stalls and pantry cars of trains failed across the country.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha in 2005, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways, R Velu admitted that there were a few takers of kulhars in different parts of the country.
As per the figures provided by the Minister, only 0.13, 0.59, 1.26, and 4.45 lakh kulhars respectively were used in North Western, South Western, Southern and Western zones of Indian Railways in 2004-05.
Its consumption was by no means encouraging in the ECR. The zone spent Rs 5.03 lakh on the purchase of earthen pots and only 13.77 lakh of it were used in 2004-05 by railways catering units and stalls.
The North Eastern and the West Central zones were the only zones, which used 81.06 and 67.48 lakh kulhars in 2004-05.
The introduction of kulhars, besides providing political gains was also expected to help the impoverished potters and give a fillip to the dying art. While in southern areas its use is considered as taboo due to religious reasons, elsewhere, too, it failed due to middlemen.
Another reason why it failed to pick up was due to its weight. A hundred plastic cups weigh 350 gms, while a single kulhar weighs 100 gms. There was the doubt also about their safety since chemicals are often used to colour the soil. There is also the question of logistics: to meet the demand, 120 million kulhars are required every day.
The use of khadi was far from encouraging and different rail zones procured khadi and handloom products worth Rs 30 crore only in 2004-05.
Lalu's gift to the farmers of the State, a refrigerated van to carry vegetables from Bihar to Delhi, stands withdrawn from service. Launched with much fanfare on June 20, 2004 the refrigerated van made just one trip to the national capital. The official reason for its withdrawal was the floods.
The Railways charged Rs 162 per quintal as freight charges for the service. On the day of the launch, it carried about eight tonnes of cargo, roughly half its capacity. But on June 27, when it was lined up for its second run, nobody turned up to book goods.
The only experiment of the Rail Minister to have met with huge success is the opening of litti-chokha stall. "Stalls opened at all the prominent stations under the ECR is doing roaring business with stalls failing to meet the demand," said the CPRO, A K Chandra.
Going by his resolve to serve the train passengers with "pure, indigenous items" Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad now intends to offer fresh fruit juice and bananas grown in Hajipur to railway passengers.
"We are making arrangements so that any demand by passengers of fresh fruit juice or fruits could be satisfied in trains,"" Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said in Gwalior recently.
Though a directive in this regard is yet to come, the proposal, if implemented is likely to benefit thousands of banana farmers in Vaishali district, including Raghopur, the Assembly constituency of former Chief Minister and leader of Opposition Rabri Devi.
"We will do the needful as and when the directives come," said A K Chandra, Chief Public elation Officer (CPRO), East Central Railway (ECR).
Earlier, in 2004, Prasad had announced the use of khadi and kulhars (earthen cups), mathas (salted curds) in trains and litti-chokha stalls at stations.
Only litti-chokha stalls turned out to be successful while others flopped. His move to transport vegetables from Bihar to the national capital also boomeranged.
The Railway Minister's move to introduce kulhars in railway stalls and pantry cars of trains failed across the country.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha in 2005, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways, R Velu admitted that there were a few takers of kulhars in different parts of the country.
As per the figures provided by the Minister, only 0.13, 0.59, 1.26, and 4.45 lakh kulhars respectively were used in North Western, South Western, Southern and Western zones of Indian Railways in 2004-05.
Its consumption was by no means encouraging in the ECR. The zone spent Rs 5.03 lakh on the purchase of earthen pots and only 13.77 lakh of it were used in 2004-05 by railways catering units and stalls.
The North Eastern and the West Central zones were the only zones, which used 81.06 and 67.48 lakh kulhars in 2004-05.
The introduction of kulhars, besides providing political gains was also expected to help the impoverished potters and give a fillip to the dying art. While in southern areas its use is considered as taboo due to religious reasons, elsewhere, too, it failed due to middlemen.
Another reason why it failed to pick up was due to its weight. A hundred plastic cups weigh 350 gms, while a single kulhar weighs 100 gms. There was the doubt also about their safety since chemicals are often used to colour the soil. There is also the question of logistics: to meet the demand, 120 million kulhars are required every day.
The use of khadi was far from encouraging and different rail zones procured khadi and handloom products worth Rs 30 crore only in 2004-05.
Lalu's gift to the farmers of the State, a refrigerated van to carry vegetables from Bihar to Delhi, stands withdrawn from service. Launched with much fanfare on June 20, 2004 the refrigerated van made just one trip to the national capital. The official reason for its withdrawal was the floods.
The Railways charged Rs 162 per quintal as freight charges for the service. On the day of the launch, it carried about eight tonnes of cargo, roughly half its capacity. But on June 27, when it was lined up for its second run, nobody turned up to book goods.
The only experiment of the Rail Minister to have met with huge success is the opening of litti-chokha stall. "Stalls opened at all the prominent stations under the ECR is doing roaring business with stalls failing to meet the demand," said the CPRO, A K Chandra.
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