'Consider continuation of concessions to sr. citizens'
New Delhi: At a time when the government has made it clear that it wouldn't be able to provide concession facility to senior citizens, a ray of hope has come for elders from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways, which is headed by parliamentarian Radha Mohan Singh -- who himself is a septuagenarian.
In its 12th Action Taken Report of the Standing Committee on Railways, which was presented to Lok Sabha on Thursday, the House panel has suggested Railways Ministry to consider the concessions granted to different categories of passengers judiciously as the concession to senior citizens had been withdrawn in view of the Covid-19 pandemic protocol.
"The concession to senior citizens, which was available in pre-COVID times, may be reviewed and considered at least in Sleeper class and AC urgently, so that the vulnerable and the genuinely needy senior citizens could avail the facility in these classes," the Committee said in its report.
However, the Committee has asked the Railways Ministry to discontinue the practice of booking of tickets between 30-5 minutes before the departure of the train to refrain the touts from probable malpractices in the last minute rush.
"The priority should always be given to those passengers having RAC/waitlisted tickets instead of those who wish to reserve tickets in the last minute rush," the report said, adding that the continuation of the practice of ticket booking just before the departure of train may burden the PRS system as passengers will wait till last to book a confirmed ticket.
Taking a note of Railways not maintaining data about the details of privileges passes, PTOs and complimentary passes issued to their employees and revenue spent thereon, the Committee has asked the ministry to take appropriate action to maintain the data of expenditure incurred on such privileges to reflect the actual expenditure made per year.
On the issue of de-registering suspected accounts of malafide users, the Committee noted that during the year 2019-20, total 11,20,236 such IDs were deactivated, which increased to 11,62,493 in 2020-21.
As per the report the Committee feels that there are some inherent drawbacks in the system which needs to be looked into, the panel has recommended to take corrective measures and upgrade the PRS system to avoid increasing the number of IDs of malafide users.
Citing recurring losses suffered by the Indian railways due to concession for senior citizens, Railways Ministry had said that the revenue foregone due to concessions in passenger fare to senior citizen passengers during 2017-18 was Rs 1,491 crore, which rose to Rs 1,636 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 1,667 crore in 2019-20. The railways has continued concession in fare to four categories of persons with disabilities, eleven categories of patients and students.
