NEW DELHI, July 20: The railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has virtually ruled out restoration of concessions on train travels to senior citizens and sports persons anytime soon.
Vaishnaw told Parliament on Wednesday that such concessions “weigh heavily” on the railways which after heavy revenue losses due to Covid pandemic would not be able to bear the burden at this stage.
Vaishnaw pointed out that all such discounts — the most prominent being at least 40 per cent for senior citizens — were stopped around two years ago when the Covid pandemic hit services. He said the concessions to “four categories of persons with disabilities, 11 categories of patients, and students” were continued “in spite of challenges,” but restoring discounts for the rest was “not desirable.”
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, he shared data on discount to senior citizens in the three years before the pandemic hit: “The Railways has forgone ₹ 4,794 crore as revenue… during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 for both reserved and unreserved categories.” He argued that the Railways is already bearing more than 50 per cent of the cost of travel, on an average, for all passengers, because it has low fares.
“Apart from this, due to COVID-19, passenger earnings for the last two years is less in comparison to 2019-20. These have long-term impact on the financial health of the railways. Cost of granting concessions weighs heavily on the railways, hence extending scope of concessions to all categories of passengers, including senior citizens, is not desirable,” he explained. He pointed out that there were various types of trains and berths — with a range of fares — from which senior citizens could choose even without any discounts.
(Manas Dasgupta)
