new Delhi. Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnav had given a statement in the MP recently that in view of the reduced earnings of the Railways, the ban on the exemption given to the senior citizens will not be removed. He also talked about continuing the ban on concessions given in other categories. However, in this statement of the Railway Minister, it came to the fore that the Railways has taken the final decision to end all the concessions including senior citizens and now passengers will not get any concessions in future.
After the continuous information coming from the Railways that it has been clarified that the exemption has been postponed for the time being, it has not been stopped completely. Railways has also said that there is no truth in the posts on social media claiming that the exemption given to the elderly has completely ended. On 16 March, Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnav had told in Parliament that about Rs 1,600 crore is spent annually on giving concession in fares to senior citizens. Railways spends around Rs 2,000 crore on giving concessions to all classes. He has not removed the ban on exemption in rent to the elderly at present.
The Railway Minister has not told how long this ban will continue. Indian Railways gives concession in rail fare to many other categories of passengers including senior citizens. At present, the railways has lifted the ban on concession in fare for three categories of passengers. These include four types of Divyangjan, patients suffering from 11 types of diseases and students. The lockdown caused by Corona and after that the movement of trains was affected. During the financial year 2020-21, there has been a huge decline in the earnings of the railways from the passenger fare as compared to the financial year 2019-20. In such a situation, the restriction on concession in fare to some other categories of passengers including senior citizens will continue.
Significantly, in a tweet, it was claimed that all citizens traveling in the railways will be normal. The Ministry of Railways has decided to completely discontinue the concession of up to 50% in fare to senior citizens. But the executive director (information and publicity) in the Railway Board, G.K. Bansal told NBT that no such final decision has been taken so far. So this tweet is not factually correct.