The Senior Citizens’ Friends Welfare Association will conduct protests at every major railway station in the State from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday against the “anti-elderly” policies of the Central Government and demanding that the benefits for them that have been cancelled in the Railway should be reinstated.
State president of the association, V.A.N. Namboothiri, told reporters here on Tuesday that the Railways had withdrawn the benefit in ticket fares to the elderly on March 20, 2020. The move was taken under the pretext of discouraging senior citizens from travelling at a time when COVID was spreading fast. However, there were reports that the move was in fact to compensate for the losses incurred by the Railways.
The Railways used to give 50% off ticket fares to women above 58 years of age and 40% off to men who were aged 60 and above. The Railways claimed in the Madras High Court recently that it had lost ₹5,475 crore by means of such relaxations to the elderly and others during 2016-2019.
“Now that the COVID restrictions have been relaxed and more trains have started running regularly, why can’t the Railways reinstate the benefits to the elderly”, Mr. Namboothiri questioned, adding that the answer from the Railway Ministry had always been “not feasible”.
The association also complained that the Railways no longer provided the lower berths to senior citizens by default and that they needed to apply separately for it, while booking their tickets. It also raised a suspicion that the cut in benefits was to aid the slow privatisation of Indian Railways.
“On one side, the rates of all tickets, including platform tickets have been raised while on the other, the benefits to several sections, including senior citizens, have been cut short. This is a move to help the corporates who are to take over the running of railways”, Mr. Namboothiri alleged.
The protest at the Kozhikode Railway Station on Thursday will be inaugurated by former MLA, A. Pradeep Kumar.
State vice president T.Devi, district president P.P. Kuttikrishnan, district secretary Melady Narayanan and others were present at the press meet.
