New Delhi, Mar 27:

The Railways has terminated the contract of a vendor after a passenger found worms in a packaged curd cup served to him on the Patna-Tatanagar Vande Bharat Express and imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the company.

The Railway Ministry has also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on its own company, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), for not handling the matter properly.

On March 15, a group of seven passengers on board the Vande Bharat train were served packaged curd of a known brand along with dinner. Upon opening one of the packets, they found live worms and insects inside. The passenger, Ritesh Singh, immediately flagged the issue on his X handle, tagging the IRCTC, the Railway Minister and others.

In its incident-cum-action taken report, IRCTC found that the curd packet was picked up from Patna, with a manufacturing date of March 9, 2026 and an expiry date of April 7, 2026.

The report stated that the officials apologised to the passengers and served them dry fruit mixtures and some sweet treats.