IRCTC: In the third term of the Modi government, senior citizens can once again be given a gift regarding railway fares. The government can restart the discount in ticket fares which was stopped during the Covid pandemic.
Senior Citizens Ticket Concession: If there are senior citizens in your family or you yourself fall in this category and often travel by train, then this news is useful for you. Yes, the fare concession stopped by the Railways during the Covid pandemic can be started again by the government. If this happens, then crores of senior citizens will get relief. The concession given by the government in train fare to senior citizens can be restored after four years. If an announcement is made regarding the fare concession, then this will be the biggest gift to senior citizens from the Modi 3.0 government. Fare concession likely to be restored after four years
According to the news published in Dainik Bhaskar, Modi 3.0 government may restore the concession in rail fare to senior citizens after four years. The news claimed that discussions are going on to restore this concession only for sleeper class instead of AC coach. The government is trying to put minimum financial burden on the railways. In such a situation, only those senior citizens will be given concession in fare, who are not financially capable of traveling in sleeper class.
Concession column has to be filled in the reservation form
Apart from this, it was also told in the news that concession in railway fare will be given only to those senior citizens who want to take it. That is, you will not get the benefit of this facility of railways by entering the age like before. Now senior citizens will have to fill the concession column in the reservation form while booking the ticket. Sources also say that it is being considered to give this discount to every passenger two or three times a year. As per the rules before Covid, senior citizens were given up to 50 percent discount on traveling in general, AC and sleeper coaches.
40% discount was given in fare
Before Kovid, the Railways used to give 40% discount in the basic fare for men aged 60 years or above. Apart from this, women aged 58 years or above were given 50% discount in fare. This discount was discontinued in March 2020 during the Corona epidemic. The matter of discount given by the Railways in fare was also raised in Parliament. On this, the Railways says that a subsidy of Rs 59,837 crore is already being given in passenger fare. It was told that the average expenditure on a passenger is Rs 110, whereas in comparison, only Rs 45 is charged.
Increase in the number of railway passengers
Recently, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav had said that after the Corona epidemic, there has been an increase in train travel of senior citizens. Giving information on the written answer to a question in the lower house, the Railway Minister had said that between 20 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, 1.87 crore senior citizens traveled by train. At the same time, between 1 April 2021 and February 2022, 4.74 crore senior citizens traveled by train. At that time, he had clearly refused to restore the concession given to senior citizens. But now the news is that the government is considering implementing it again.
