Senior citizens had a discount on ticket fares till 2020 in railways. The administration gave a discount of 60 per cent on the ticket for senior citizens above the age of 60 and 50 per cent for women after the age of 58. This discount was available in all trains of the railway. Indian Railways canceled this discount after March 2020 citing the reason as Covid. In the meantime, the Union Railway Minister in a reply in the Rajya Sabha had said that the concession would start soon, but so far it does not seem to have found the timing. Well, due to this concession, the Railways did not get an income for the year 2017-2018 of Rs1,491 cr, in 2018-2019, Rs1,636 cr and in the year 2019-20, Rs1,667 cr. This is a very negligible amount considering total Railway Budget . But railways that has thousands of crores of income closed this concession scheme in the name of increasing income. Now the MPs of Maharashtra must follow up with the railway minister in this regard. People's representatives should also discuss this issue in the Lok Sabha.
