In pre-covid days, senior citizens used to benefit from the concessions offered by the Indian Railways on train booking.
New Delhi: The Indian Railways used to provide concessions to senior citizens for booking Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) trains. However, the Railway Ministry had withdrawn the exemption on concessions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. While many were expecting the rollback of concessions soon, the Railways Ministry has now said that it did not find it feasible to restore concessions on rail tickets that have been suspended since the pandemic.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that it had received representations from several quarters to restore the facility. Previously, Indian Railways provided concessions in 54 categories. But the total number of categories were lessened in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In view of Pandemic & Covid protocol, a concession to all categories of passengers (except 4 categories of Divyangjan, 11 categories of Patients and Students) have been withdrawn from 20.03.2020,” he said.
“Representation/request/suggestions from different quarters have been received for restoration of all concessions. The matter has been examined but not found feasible at present,” he added.
He also informed the Parliament that the number of passengers travelling in air-conditioned coaches reduced by more than 70 per cent in 2020-21 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He said that during the year 2019-20, there was an increase of around 4 per cent in passengers who travelled by air-conditioned (AC) coaches and a 70 per cent drop was observed in 2020-21 among such passengers, as compared to the previous year.
