CHANDIGARH: A week after the Golden Temple image on water bottles in Shatabdi kicked up a controversy, the Indian Railways have once again resorted to a similar lapse by sticking the image on the kettles which are used to serve tea to the passengers.
The labels put up by the IRCTC (Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd) are a part of an advertisement campaign by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGBC) had slammed the railways after a video of plastic water bottles with stickers of Golden Temple went viral last week.
The SGBC has now written to the railways demanding a complete ban on such stickers or labels which will hurt the sentiments of the people.
The chief general manager of the catering division of the IRCTC Ashish Bhatia responded to the SGPC secretary Daljit Singh Bedi stating that they have complied with their request and removed the stickers from the flasks and ensured that the objectionable stock has also been withdrawn from the trains with immediate effect. " In future, such advertisements will not appear in any IRCTC service," he said.
On contacting Bedi he said that there is a lot of resentment among the devotees on this move by the railway authorities. "The IRCTC has committed a big mistake by publishing the Golden Temple pictures twice, first on the water bottles and now on flasks. Though the IRCTC has written to us that the stickers have been removed, we feel that a complete ban should be in place. A senior official from the BSNL has assured that there will be a complete ban on such pictures in advertisements and images of Golden Temple will not be used," Bedi said.
The SGPC secretary also stated that if the railways repeat the same mistake, the committee will have to approach the court.
Bedi said if the railways again repeat the same mistake then the SGPC would have no option but to take legal action as it will then move court. the SGPC had earlier called the chief of IRCTC Money Anand and asked him to remove the stickers from the water bottles immediately.