New Delhi/Kochi: It is good news for Porotta and Pazhampori fans. Eateries at railway stations in Kerala will continue to serve your favourite dishes, thanks to the spirited fight by social media users and lawmakers.
What angered them was the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation's (IRCT), which runs eateries at railway stations, decision to kick popular Kerala dishes – Puttu (steamed rice cake), Kadala curry (black chickpea curry), Pazhampori (banana fritters), Egg curry, Appam, Porotta, Bhaji, Illayada, Kozhukatta, Unniappam, Neyyappam and Sukhiyan - from its menu and replace them with north Indian dishes.
After the social media campaign gathered momentum, IRCTC announced on twitter that all food items served earlier would be restored in the menu.
Another vocal critic of the IRCTC decision was Member of Parliament from Ernakulam Hibi Eden. His intervention too played a major role in the reinstatement of Kerala dishes. He had raised the issue with IRCTC chairman Mahendra Pratap Mall,who promised the lawmaker to look into the issue.
Hibi had lamented the fact that Kerala always received a raw deal from the Railways, particularly on issues such as allocation of new train routes. "You don't give us trains; at least give us Pazhampori!" The Week quoted him, as saying.
“Perception among many people was that the 'South' always referred to Chennai, which meant that sentimental attachment that people had to food in states like Kerala was ignored,” he said.
Little wonder, then, that Hibi went gaga over the IRCTC's menu rollback.
“We won't allow them to ply the trains without serving Pazhampori, Porotta and Fish curry meals,” he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday, accompanied with a photo of him receiving the new menu from IRCTC's regional manager Sreekumar.
Rajya Sabha member and Communist Party of India leader Binoy Viswam too wrote to Goyal demanding measures to bring back Kerala dishes in the IRCTC menu.
