Rail Travel Concession to Senior Citizen: Indian Railways has earned an additional Rs 2242 crore in the financial year 2022-23 due to the abolition of concession on rail fare to senior citizens.
This has been revealed through RTI. On March 20, 2020, the exemption on rail travel for senior citizens was abolished by the Modi government after the Corona epidemic knocked. Since then, every year the government has earned more than Rs 1500 crore through savings.
This RTI was filed by Chandra Shekhar Gaur, an ITI activist from Madhya Pradesh. In response to the question asked in RTI, Railways said that between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023, Railways did not give any concession on rail fare to about 8 crore senior citizens. These railway passengers include 4.6 crore men and 3.3 crore women and 18,000 are transgender. During this period, Railways has earned a total of Rs 5062 crore from senior citizens traveling by rail. Out of which Rs 2242 crore is the additional amount that the Railways has received by waiving rail fares.
Between March 2020 and March 2020, Railways did not give concession in rail fare to 7.31 crore senior citizens traveling by rail. In which there were 4.46 crore men above 60 years of age and 2.84 crore women above 58 years of age. 8310 transgenders were included. Between 2020 and 2022, the Railways earned a total income of Rs 3464 crore from senior citizens, which was Rs 1500 crore more due to not giving exemption. In 2022-23, Railways earned an income of Rs 2891 crore from male senior citizens and Rs 2169 crore from female senior citizens. Rs 1.03 crore was received from transgenders.
Last week, the Supreme Court had rejected the petition demanding the restoration of exemption in rail fare of senior citizens. The court said that it is not appropriate for the court to issue guidelines in this regard. The government will have to take a decision on this. Recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee had recommended for concession in fare for senior citizens. But the government has been refusing to reinstate the concession in rail fares.
