Kolkata, July 1: Four passengers onboard the Puri-Sealdah Duronto Express allegedly fell ill after eating "undercooked" chicken, a railway official said. The authorities have since decided to suspend the vendor's licence.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation -- which deals with catering, tourism and online ticketing of Indian Railways -- said that they have decided to discontinue with the service of the third-party vendor responsible for serving food on the train and will levy a hefty fine on him.

"Around four passengers were served undercooked chicken onboard the Puri-Sealdah Duronto Express on Saturday night. The passengers complained of uneasiness while a teenager fell ill after eating food," IRCTC General Manager Debasish Chandra said.

"We have decided to cancel the licence of vendor Krishna Enterprise and also impose a hefty fine," he said.

"Passengers are safe and sound. We are internally investigating the matter," the official added.

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Ayodhya, Sep 27: The Food Safety and Drug Administration Department on Friday collected samples of 'elaichi daana' or cardamom seeds being distributed as 'prasad' at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple here and sent them for testing, officials said.

The action was taken following a complaint lodged through the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS), Assistant Food Commissioner Manik Chand Singh said.

Singh said the samples were procured from Haiderganj, where the cardamom seed offerings are prepared and sent to the Jhansi State Laboratory for comprehensive testing and evaluation.

Prakash Gupta, the officer in charge of the Ram Temple trust, revealed that on average, around 80,000 packets of cardamom seeds are distributed daily as a sacred offering.

Amid a row over the alleged presence of animal fat in laddus at the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh, the chief priest of the Ram temple here on Thursday questioned the purity of ghee being sold nationwide and said 'prasad' should be prepared under the supervision of temple priests only.