Pune: After a report by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India calling railway food ‘unfit for consumption’, the Pune railway division has begun action against illegal vendors at Pune railway station. The action started after a railway activist nabbed a food contractor selling food at the railway platform after the expiry of his contract two weeks ago.

Pune Railway Division has now given the responsibility to the ‘Tejas Squad’ of checking and taking action against illegal vendors at the station’s platforms. There was panic among the illegal vendors at Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Lonavla, Miraj and Kolhapur stations after a special checking team cracked the whip against them. According to an official of Pune Railway Division, a sum of Rs 6,53,700 imposed as a penalty on 577 errant vendors was collected by the checking staff in the past six months.

The Tejas Squad also nabbed a large number of passengers who got down at Pune station and were found travelling without tickets. Action was taken against the errant vendors and ticketless passengers under relevant sections of the Railways Act.