The catering department of Central Railways bought several essential kitchen items at a cost multiple times of the maximum retail price, according to a report by The Hindu.

The information was revealed when the catering department of the railways responded to a second appeal filed by a petitioner under the Right To Information (RTI) Act and after a show-cause notice from the appellate authority was sent. The RTI was filed by activist Ajay Bose.

According to the response of the catering department, which included details of the ration bought across a couple of months instead of full year details that were sought in the RTI, a pack of 100 gm Amul curd was bought for Rs 972 which translates to Rs 9,720 for a kilo of curd.

According to the report, the catering department of the central railways that supplies ration to IRCTC's Jan Ahar canteens, railway base kitchens, and central railway trains with pantry services, spent Rs 1,253 per litre on refined oil, buying 53 litres for Rs 66,410. It spent Rs 157 per kg to buy 148.5 kg of moong dal, which translates into Rs 89,610, and spent Rs 1.06 lakh to buy 178 boxes of water and soft drinks, with each box containing 10 bottles each.

The cummulative spending on Amul curd was over Rs 1.49 crore, the report says.

There was a mismatch in the stock of the items too, the response to the RTI showed. According to the report, the response indicated more quantities of ration was distributed than was bought. If 250 kg of flour was bought, the response shows that 450 kg was distributed.

Instead of of the 20 kg Maida bought, 35 kg was distributed.