Bed bugs greet Sushil Kumar Shinde's daughter on train, officials left red faced

Not just passengers, trains in the Indian Railways transport all sorts of creepy crawlies imaginable. From rats to cockroaches — you name it, and you will find it on Indian Railways. While complaints from passengers are met by deaf ears of officials, when former Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s daughter and Congress MLA Praniti Shinde complained of bed bugs in Solapur-bound Siddeshwar Express’s H1 coach, officials scrambled to do some damage control. [caption id=“attachment_2072117” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption] A Times of India report quoted a senior railway official as saying, “We too received a message about the MLA’s complaint. As soon as the train arrived in Mumbai, we sent a team to the coach but were unable to find any bugs.” Air-conditioned trains are supposed to be cleaned and fogged every 15 days, but of course anyone who travels by Indian trains will know that such things are never diligently done. And it is proved as the Times of India report further added: “The official said complaints of bedbugs are rarer than those of cockroaches and rodents, which enter coaches in search of food. Bugs, on the other hand, he said, are carried into compartments by passengers themselves through their bags and bed sheets. It is difficult to spot them too, because they hide inside blankets, curtains or edge of seats.” These insects are not just your fellow travelers. They are often found in the food served in trains. Rajdhani Express, supposed to be the most well-maintained of trains in the country, saw such an incident in August last year. Zee News had reported, “A cockroach was found in the meal served to a passenger on the 2305 Up Kolkata-New Delhi Rajdhani Express on Sunday night. All hell broke loose after the news spread, with angry passengers lodging protest over the issue. They forced the train to halt at Mughalsarai in Uttar Pradesh for an hour.” In the same month last year, Shatabdi Express had seen three such incidents. Times of India had reported, “Passengers of New Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi Express were in for a shock when they were served with cockroach-laced rice on-board. This is the third incident in three months when Shatabdi passengers complained about poor quality of meals. Earlier, food served on the train had worms or were stale. Passengers of C6 coach found cockroaches in rice served to them onboard on Saturday. The complainants included Pushplata Goel, Madhusudan Singh Chouhan and four others.” So the next time you take a train look before you eat, and sleep.