LUCKNOW: The debate over food served to passengers on the Vande Bharat sleeper train between Varanasi and New Delhi has intensified, with saints in Kashi urging the Railway Ministry to stop serving non-vegetarian food on the route.
At a meeting organised under the banner of Sanskriti Sansad, speakers demanded that only vegetarian food be served on all trains operating from Varanasi.
The issue has come up amid discussions over the Vande Bharat sleeper train, which is scheduled to operate six days a week between Varanasi and New Delhi from October 31. Religious and social organisations in Kashi have questioned why the same arrangement cannot be extended to trains from Varanasi, when only vegetarian food is served on Vande Bharat trains operating between Ayodhya and New Delhi and Delhi and Katra, home to the Vaishno Devi shrine.
Those associated with Kashi's religious traditions said food served on trains connecting religious cities should take local religious and cultural sentiments into account. They have called for vegetarian food to be served on Vande Bharat trains operating from Varanasi.
Swami Jitendranand, national general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti, said: “When meat is not served on Vande Bharat trains on the Ayodhya and Vaishno Devi routes, why is the same rule not being applied to this train departing from the religious city of Kashi?”
