New Delhi: Nearly seven crore senior citizens travelled by trains without availing concessions over the last two years since the Railways suspended the facility in March 2020, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday. He also said that the ministry has no plans of restoring the concessions at present.
In a written reply to a query in the Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw said that between 20 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, 1.87 crore senior citizens travelled by trains while between April 1, 2021, and February 2022, 4.74 crores availed rail services. The minister also said that approximately 12 crore senior citizens (both reserved and unreserved) availed concession in passenger fare during 2019-20 and revenue foregone due to concession on this account for the same period was approximately Rs 1,667 crore.
"Since the age of unreserved senior citizen passengers in unreserved ticketing system (UTS) is not captured and concession to this category were withdrawn from 20.03.2020, data for unreserved senior citizen passenger is not available for the mentioned period. Since the age of unreserved senior citizen passengers is not captured and some of the senior citizen passengers do not avail concessions, actual saving cannot be determined," Vaishnaw said on the Railways' savings from the suspension of the facility.
Given the pandemic and Covid protocol with effect from March 20, 2020, the Railways have continued concession to only four categories of Divyangjan, 11 categories of patients, and students. "Due to challenges posed by COVID-19, total passenger revenue generated during 2020-21 is less in comparison to the year 2019-2020 pre-Covid period. Cost of granting concessions weigh heavily on Railways, hence extending the scope of concessions to all categories of passengers including senior citizens is not desirable at present," he added.
In another written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw said that the Indian Railways intends to provide stalls/kiosks at identified stations for the sale and promotion of items sourced from local manufacturers to improve their skills and livelihood. This is being done under the "One Station, One Product" concept that aims to encourage indigenous and specialised products and crafts of India through providing display and sale outlets on railway stations across the country.
Vaishnav said the products would be specific to that place and could include artefacts made by indigenous tribes, handlooms by local weavers, handicrafts like world famous wood carving, chikankari and zari-zardozi work on clothes, or spices tea, coffee and other processed/semi processed food items/products indigenously grown in the area. "A pilot project was launched on March 25, 2022, in each railway zone. One product indigenous to the respective locality/region has been identified and it is envisaged to allot space on the station for sale of the product," he said.
Some of the stations identified for this purpose include Bihar's Patna Junction where Madhubani paintings and related products are being showcased, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh where locally made wooden toys called Etikoppaka toys are being displayed and sold, and Odisha's Balasore where coconut mat products are being promoted. The other stations where the pilot project has been undertaken include Howrah, Guwahati, Bengaluru, Nagpur, Rajkot, Chennai, Panipat, and Jaipur.
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PTI
