These concessions were abolished by the central government after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Earlier, Railways used to give 40 per cent concession in fare to men above 60 years of age and 50 per cent concession to women above 58 years of age.
(Representational photo credit: Facebook)
New Delhi: A Parliamentary Standing Committee has urged the Ministry of Railways to resume train fare concession for senior citizens traveling in sleeper and third AC classes as the COVID-19 situation returns to normal. It has been said that this will help the weak and genuinely needy citizens.
According to a report in The Times of India, this is the second time that a committee related to railways headed by Radha Mohan Singh has ‘consensually’ considered restoration of concessions for senior citizens, especially in sleeper class and third AC fares. ‘ It is recommended.
These concessions were abolished by the government after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Earlier, Railways used to give 40 per cent concession in fare to men above 60 years of age and 50 per cent concession to women above 58 years of age. These concessions were given in the fares of all classes of trains like Mail, Express, Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto.
The parliamentary committee has reiterated this recommendation after the information given by the Railways, in which it said that the situation of COVID has now become normal and the Railways has achieved normal growth.
In response to a question, the Ministry of Railways had said, ‘The COVID-19 epidemic has adversely affected the financial condition of the Railways. The government has given a subsidy of Rs 59,837 crore on passenger tickets in 2019-20. That is, an average concession of 53 percent has been given to each person traveling. This subsidy continues for all passengers. Concessions beyond this subsidy amount continue for many categories like specially abled, students and patients.
It may be known that in September 2022, the Modi government at the Center had refused to restore the exemption given to senior citizens in several categories of tickets.
In the Lok Sabha, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav had said that the COVID epidemic has had a long-term impact on the economic condition of the Railways, in such a situation, it is not desirable to increase the scope of exemption in fares of many categories, including senior citizens.
Even in March 2022, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav had said in a written reply to a question in the Parliament, ‘The total travel time during 2020-2021 as compared to 2019-2020 (before Corona) due to the challenges posed by COVID-19 Passenger revenue has declined. Exemption in fare to senior citizens increases the cost of railways, so at present it is not possible to give concession in train fare to all other categories of passengers including senior citizens.
It may be noted that in May 2022, it was revealed under Right to Information (RTI) that the Railways had earned an additional revenue of over Rs 1,500 crore from senior citizen passengers in two years from March 2020, after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The concession given to senior citizens on tickets was suspended.
According to the RTI reply, the total revenue earned from senior citizen passengers during this period is Rs 3,464 crore, which includes an additional Rs 1,500 crore earned due to suspension of the concession.
The RTI reply on gender-wise revenue in the total revenue from senior citizens said that Rs 2,082 crore was received from male passengers, Rs 1,381 crore from female passengers and Rs 45.58 lakh from transgenders.
The concessions which were stopped since March 2020 after the country was hit by the Corona virus epidemic, are suspended till date.
read this also…
Categories: India, Politics, Special
