One of the concessions that senior citizens used to enjoy in India is on fare for railway journey anywhere across the country. However, it was withdrawn from March 20, 2020, the date when the lockdown was imposed all over the country for the Covid-19 pandemic.
Obviously, all senior citizens of the country and their family members hope that the government will restore the concession that was applicable to all males above 60 and women above 58 years.
‘55% concession already there’
When the question arose before the interim Budget in January, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw parried a direct reply and said, “If a train ticket to a destination costs Rs 100, Railway is charging only Rs 45. It is giving Rs 55 concession.”
According to an RTI reply the railways earned nothing less than Rs 5,800 crore between FY21 and FY24 simply by withdrawing the concession. The additional amount earned in FY23 alone was Rs 2,242 crore.
Special concessisons
In January this year, Vaishnaw had also clarified that apart from the implicit concession that the railways gave to every ticket purchaser, the institution offered as many as 4 categories of persons who are especially abled, 11 categories of patients and 8 categories of students. He also revealed that as many as 18 lakh patients and those who escorted them benefitted from these special concessions in FY23.
The indication was clear and the finance minister did not restore the concession in the interim budget.
Big discount
The concession extended earlier amounted to 50% discount for women senior citizens and 40% discount for male and transgender senior citizens.
“The concession was substantial. It was one of the attractions of railway travel. If it is reintroduced it would do a lot of good to millions of senior citizens who are bearing the brunt of adverse economic conditions due to runaway prices of essential items,” said Snigdha Roy, 73, a citizen from Kolkata.
In the interim budget Nirmala Sitharaman had allocated Rs 2.55 lakh crore to the railways for FY25. It was a rise of 5.8% beyond the BE of Rs 2.41 lakh crore for the budget for FY24.
Will Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman restore the senior citizen concession railways used to offer earlier? This question has resurfaced in the run-up to the Union budget that will be presented on July 23, 2024. Biz News Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
