Rlys earns extra Rs 1500 cr from senior citizens by suspending concession: RTI

The Railways has generated an additional revenue of over Rs 1500 crore from senior citizen travellers in two years since March 2020 when the assistance was suspended after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic an RTI response has foundIn its reply to a Right to Information query filed by Madhya Pradeshbased Chandra Shekhar Gaur the Railways said that between March 20 2020 and March 31 2022 the Railways did not offer concessions to 731 crore senior citizen travellers These included 446 crore males over the age of 60 284 crore females over 58 and 8310 transgender peopleThe total revenue from senior citizen travellers during the period is Rs 3464 crore which includes an additional Rs 1500 crore earned due to the suspension of the concession according to the RTI responseAs for the genderwise breakup for the overall revenue from senior citizens the RTI reply said it was Rs 2082 crore from male passengers Rs 1381 crore from female travellers and Rs 4558 lakh from transgendersFemale senior citizen travellers are eligible for a 50 per cent concession while male and transgenders can avail 40 per cent in all classes The minimum age limit for a woman to avail the concession is 58 while it is 60 for a manThe concessions which were put on hold from March 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic hit the country have remained suspended to this day with senior officials indicating they might not be retainedWhile train services remained suspended through most of 2020 and parts of 2021 the demand for concessions began surfacing as services normalisedOver the last two decades the railways concessions have been a muchdiscussed topic with multiple committees recommending their withdrawal As a result of this in July 2016 the Railways made the concession for the elderly optionalThe Railways incurs a huge burden of around Rs 2000 crore every year due to around 53 types of concessions it offers to various kinds of passengersThe senior citizen concession amounts to around 80 per cent of the total discounts given by the national transporterEarlier the Railway had tried to encourage people to give up their senior citizen concessions but it was not a successIn fact according to a Comptroller and Auditor General report in 2019 the response to the give it up scheme from the senior citizen passengers was not very encouragingThe report said that out of total 441 crore senior citizen passengers 753 lakh 17 per cent opted to give up 50 per cent concession and 109 lakh 247 per cent gave up 100 per cent concessionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever