Senior citizens will get concession in rail fare in the budget! Know what can be announced.

Year 2023-24 Before the announcement of the budget, a demand has started once for the restoration of rail concession of senior citizens. In fact, in view of the poor financial condition during the Kovid epidemic, the Railways had stopped the concession in fares for all except three categories, including senior citizens. Before the pandemic, citizens above 60 years of age used to get 50 per cent exemption. Now this relief to the senior citizens has not been restored even after the threat of COVID-19 has subsided and all other activities are completely normal in the country. However, it is very unlikely that the announcement of concession will be made in the budget again.

demand for concession again

Now, just before the Rail Budget, organizations associated with senior citizens have once again started reiterating their demand. According to senior citizens, it is difficult to travel in the general compartment of the train even if there is no concession in fare. The facility of concession in fare was resumed by the Railways only for people belonging to special category. In which four categories of Divyang, 11 categories of patients and students are included. But no attention was paid to the elders. In the ever-increasing inflation, when we used to get discount on train tickets, it was a great relief.

no railway plan

According to sources, the Railways Ministry has asked the Finance Ministry to prioritize funding of long-term infrastructure projects such as freight corridors, high-speed trains and train modernization instead of giving tax relief. However, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav had told Parliament in a written reply that after the pandemic, around seven crore senior citizens have been traveling by trains for two years without any concession. Exemption in fares to senior citizens puts a heavy burden on the exchequer of the government. Because of this, the government has no plans to give concession in train tickets to senior citizens. The central government is investing mostly in the modernization of railways.