Will Indian Railways reintroduce concessions for seniors? Demand for rebate grows as latest RTI reveals THIS detail

an RTI reply said that during the lockdown period between March 2020 and September 2021, almost 4 crore seniors travelled on full fare. (Reuters file photo)

The Indian Railways is normalising its operations to pre-Covid levels. From dropping the ‘special’ tags to reintroducing cooked meals, the Indian Railways is bringing back the old ways of travelling in trains. Amid all this, the latest RTI reply has sparked new demand for relaunching the concessions for the senior citizens travelling in trains across India. A PTI report quoting an RTI reply said that during the lockdown period between March 2020 and September 2021, almost 4 crore seniors travelled on full fare. During the nationwide lockdown that was imposed in 2020, the Indian Railways had suspended all kinds of rebates offered to some categories of citizens. The concessions for the seniors remain in force to this day.

The Railways had revealed the data of seniors travelling during the lockdown phase to an RTI, which was filed by Chandra Shekhar Gaur from Madhya Pradesh.

The concessions offered by the railways state that women of 58 and above are eligible for a 50 per cent rebate, while for men, the age criteria are 60 years and the rebate limit is 40 per cent in all classes.

The PTI report also states that the Indian Railways’ ‘give it up’ scheme, which was introduced in 2017, hasn’t found many takers. The scheme was launched after several deliberations where the railways would want the travellers to ‘give up’ the concessions. However, despite such encouragements, the rebates for the seniors have been part of many travellers across the country. The 2019 CAG report had also said that the ‘give it up’ scheme met a lukewarm response. The report had said that after the railways launched the scheme, less than 8 lakh senior travellers opted to give up their rebates. There has been a growing chorus of reintroducing the ‘seniors’ concessions.