Picture a man sitting at the Chennai railway station putting piping hot sambar into aluminum foil packs. Nothing wrong with that. But what if the sambar is being taken out from a plastic bucket with a plastic garbage cover inside?

This is what Sharavanan Sivakumar, (48), saw on Sunday morning at the Chennai Central station. Shravanan was at the station to board the Shatabdi Express to Salem. He saw a vendor pouring hot sambar from a plastic bucket and quickly captured pictures and videos.

“The hot sambar taken out of a plastic cover would be harmful for people to consume,” he said.

Sharavanan told TNM that the food was supposed to be sold in Brindavan Express. “The nature of the garbage bag was carcinogenic and is harmful for the environment and for the humans. The temperature of the sambar was also very high and the garbage bag was of low quality which makes the food unfit for consumption,” he said. 

He added that these shops are licensed by IRCTC to sell food on platforms and trains. “We trust IRCTC with the food they provide. They should make sure that the quality of food is good,” he said.

However, Sharavanan did not file a complaint regarding this issue. “I did not register a complaint but my friend tweeted the pictures to Railway minister Suresh Prabhu, after which the Divisional Railway Manager of Chennai promised to take an action on it,” he said.

Later he wrote on Facebook, “Lot of friends irked by my post have been sharing their views. Some took it to the top guy. A poor guy working for his employer or that IRCTC licensed food stall vendor will be penalized. All of us will forget and get to work, the use of plastic will continue. We cannot stop this until we stop eating food served in plastic. It is not to save a nation or race, it is for your own safety and health.”