Senior Citizen Ticket Concession: The concession given to senior citizens in railway fare may be restored soon. Railway Minister can soon give this good news to the people waiting for this announcement in the budget.
It is believed that the Railways can again restore this facility for senior citizens. In fact, in view of the poor financial condition during the Covid epidemic, the Railways had stopped ticket concession for all except three categories, including senior citizens. Before the pandemic, citizens above 60 years of age used to get 50 per cent exemption. Now even after the threat of Covid-19 has reduced and all other activities in the country have become completely normal, this relief was not restored to the senior citizens.
There may be changes in the rules
The Railway Board said that it is planning to give concessions to senior citizens, in which the idea is to reduce the cost of these concessions while retaining the subsidy for senior citizens. As of now, no terms and conditions have been decided yet.
53 percent discount is available
According to the information received from the Ministry of Railways, all the citizens traveling in the train get an average discount of 53 percent on the fare. Along with this, Divyangjans, students and patients get many types of concessions apart from this exemption.
In which class will the discount be given?
In the Rajya Sabha, the Railway Minister was asked about the Railway Concession, whether the Railways will again give the facility of discount on train tickets. On this, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has said that in 2019-20, Railways has given a subsidy of Rs 59,837 crore on passenger tickets. Apart from this, the Standing Committee attached to the Parliament has suggested giving concession in train tickets to senior citizens traveling in sleeper and third AC.
Rs 670 crore subsidy waiver
Responding to another question by BJP MP Sushil Modi, the minister informed that the revenue on account of concession in passenger fares to senior citizens during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 was around Rs 1,491 crore, Rs 1,636 crore and Rs 1,667 crore. Was. In 2017-18, a subsidy of Rs 670 crore was waived off for senior citizens in non-AC class trains, while Rs 820 crore was spent for subsidy in AC class. In 2018-19, Rs 714 crore was spent on these concessions in non-AC classes and Rs 921 crore in AC classes. In 2019-20, there was a discount of Rs 701 crore for non AC class, while it was Rs 965 crore for AC class.
