Railways earned additional Rs 8,913 crore in 5 years by withdrawing senior citizens' concession: RTI
New Delhi (PTI): The Indian Railways has earned an additional revenue of approximately Rs 8,913 crore in five years by withdrawing concessions for senior citizens, according to replies from the Centre for Railway Information Systems on a Right to Information Act applications.
CRIS functions under the Railway Ministry and develops as well as maintains ticketing and passengers data besides offering various other services.
The question of restoring concessions on train tickets for senior citizens was raised in the parliament by members on several occasions, however, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the Railways already pays 46 per cent concession on an average to every passenger.
Males and transgenders over the age of 60 and females over the age of 58 used to avail 40 per cent and 50 per cent discounts respectively on train tickets for all classes before March 20, 2020, when the Railway Ministry withdrew it due to the onset of the Covid pandemic.
The data of passengers as well as revenue generated from them, accessed under the RTI Act, suggested that between March 20, 2020, and February 28, 2025, 31.35 crore senior citizens (male, female, transgenders) travelled paying an additional amount of Rs 8,913 crore due to suspension of concessions.
"I filed multiple applications under the RTI Act from March 20, 2020, onwards with the Railway Ministry and the most recent one was in March 2025. When I analysed the data, I found that approximately 18.279 crore males, 13.065 crore females and 43,536 transgender passengers, all senior citizens, travelled between March 20, 2020, and February 28, 2025,” Chandra Shekhar Gaur, an RTI activist from Madhya Pradesh said.
Calculating the gender-wise breakup for the overall revenue from senior citizens, Gaur said that according to the Ministry's response, it was approximately Rs 11,531 crore from male passengers, Rs 8,599 crore from female travellers and Rs 28.64 Lakh from transgender passengers.
He added, "The total revenue generated from all these passengers was Rs 20,133 crore. Considering the removal of 40 per cent discount for male as well as transgender passengers and 50 per cent for female on train journeys, the additional income that Railways earned was Rs Rs 8,913.”
The Railway Ministry has countered the demand for restoring senior citizen concessions on multiple occasions in the past.
"Indian Railways strives to provide affordable services to all strata of the society and gave subsidies of Rs 56,993 crore on passenger tickets in 2022- 23. This amounts to a concession of 46 per cent on average, to every person travelling on Railways,” Vaishnaw said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on March 19, 2025.
He added, “In other words for easier understanding, if the cost of providing service is Rs 100, then the price of the ticket is Rs 54 only. This subsidy is continuing for all passengers.”
According to the Railway Minister, concessions beyond this subsidy amount are continuing for many categories like four categories of Persons with disabilities (Divyangjans), 11 categories of patients and eight categories of students.
Gaur demanded the restoration of the concession and questioned, “A common citizen pays various taxes throughout his life and on entering the age of senior citizen, can’t he expect the facility of concessional railway tickets from the Railways?"
"On what ground does the government call itself a welfare state?" he added.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
