Indian Railways has decided not to restore concessions in fares for senior citizens and sportspersons.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Wednesday that fares in most of the classes were already very low and railways have repeatedly suffered losses due to low fares and concessions to different class of passengers.
The minister said this in response to a question whether the Railways was looking to revoke the restrictions on concessions especially for senior citizens, students and sportspersons to ease the Covid-19 pandemic.
The minister said that Indian Railways was already bearing more than 50% of the average cost of travel for all passengers, including senior citizens, due to the low fare structure for passenger services.
“Also, due to COVID 19, the earnings of passengers in the last two years are less as compared to 2019-2020. These have a long-term impact on the financial health of the Railways. Since the cost of granting concessions is heavy on the Railways, it is not desirable to extend the scope of concessions to all categories of passengers, including senior citizens,” Vaishnav said.
The minister, in a written reply in March this year also, had mentioned non-reinstatement of concessions in the Lok Sabha. But with the railways’ finances and services improving and the Covid situation easing, it was widely expected that concessions might be restored, at least for senior citizens.
However, Indian Railways continues to offer concession in fares to four categories of persons with disabilities, eleven categories of patients and students.
Railways had burnt its fingers while extending inherited concessions to different classes of passengers. According to government data, there has been a reduction in revenue due to concessions in passenger fares to senior citizen passengers during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 for both reserved and unreserved categories. 1491 crore, 1636 crore and 1667 crores respectively.
The number of senior citizen passengers traveling in reserved classes during 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 was 6.18 crore, 1.90 crore and 5.55 crore respectively. There may be a decline in the number of senior citizen passengers during 2020-21 and 2021-22 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vaishnav also informed the House that during 2019-20, around 22.6 lakh senior citizen passengers had opted to leave the passenger fare concession scheme for the sustainable development of the Railways.
catch all business News, market news, today’s fresh news events and breaking news Updates on Live Mint. download mint news app To get daily market updates.