MP: Congress MLA says giving up Railway concession in protest over Centre's move against senior citizens

BHOPAL: A Madhya Pradesh Congress leader on Sunday wrote to the state Assembly speaker saying he was giving up his MLA railway concession as the Centre had done away with such norms for senior citizens.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had, on July 20, informed the Lok Sabha that the cost of granting concessions "weighed heavily" on the transporter and "hence, extending the scope of concessions to all categories of passengers, including senior citizens, is not desirable".

MLA Jitu Patwari, in his letter to Speaker Girish Gautam, said the railway ministry must restore senior citizens' concessions immediately.

The concession of 50 per cent in ticket prices for women above the age of 58 and 40 per cent for men in the 60-plus age segment was stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic and has now been scrapped altogether, Patwari said in his letter.

"The railways is planning to reduce losses at the cost of senior citizens. I wonder why the concession for elected representatives, past and present has not been scrapped. Isn't this causing losses to the railways," he asked.