Restore railway fare concession for senior citizens: Kejriwal to PM Modi
New Delhi, Apr 3: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to restore the railway fare concession for senior citizens, saying no society and country can progress without the blessings of its elderly.
In a letter to the prime minister, he said the Centre has a budget of Rs 45 lakh crore and would incur a cost of Rs 1600 crore, which was just a "drop in the ocean", if it extends the concession to senior citizens.
It was "unfortunate" to terminate the rail ticket concession scheme for the elderly and monetary constraints cannot be the reason for it, he said and cited his government spending Rs 50 crore in the annual budget on a scheme for free pilgrimage.
"Please do not stop the concession given to the elderly in the railways. Crores of elderly people are benefiting from this concession," Kejriwal, who sent the letter on Saturday, tweeted.
By stopping the facility, a message was being given to senior citizens that the government did not care for them which was against the culture of the country, he said, adding that no person, society or country can progress without the blessings of the elderly.
Delhi was seeing progress in all areas due to the blessings of the elderly for whom free pilgrimage of religious places has been arranged by his government, he said.
"Please restore the concession to the elderly in the railways, crores of elderly people were benefiting from this scheme: Our progress is possible only with the blessings of our elders, but we often become arrogant that whatever we have achieved in life is the result of our hard work alone," Kejriwal wrote to the prime minister, appealing him for restoration of 50 per cent rebate to elderly in railway fare.
The Centre had in 2020 discontinued the concessions granted to senior citizens to discourage the movement of the public to arrest the spread of COVID-19
Kejriwal also said that the reason cited by the central government to stop the scheme was its financial implications and added that in reality, this does not make any sense.
"Monetary constraints cannot be the reason for stopping this concession. This is about intentions. By paying Rs 50 crore for the Mukhyamantri Teerth Yatra scheme from its annual state budget of Rs 70,000 crore, the Delhi Government does not become poor.
"The central government recently cited in Lok Sabha that it was spending Rs 1600 crore on the railway concession for senior citizens. The budget presented by the Central Government this year was of Rs 45 lakh crore. This cost of the railway concession is just a drop in the ocean," he said.
Saving such a small amount of money by inconveniencing crores of the elderly will not be beneficial to the country, Kejriwal said.
"By saving Rs 1600 crore annually in such a manner, the Central government will not become rich. Nor will it become poor by spending this amount on our elderly citizens," he said
A parliamentary standing committee recently recommended the resumption of the fare concession to senior citizens by the railways.
The Indian Railways used to offer a 40 per cent discount in fares to males aged 60 years or above and a 50 per cent discount was given to females with a minimum age of 58 years.
These concessions were granted in fares of all classes of Mail/Express/Rajdhani/ Shatabdi/Duranto group of trains but were withdrawn on March 20, 2020.
The Railways, however, said it had no immediate plans to resume the concession.
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BJP-JD(S) alliance will continue for Karnataka Vidhan Parishad election, says Yediyurappa
Mysuru: Former Chief Minister of Karnataka and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Parliamentary Party member BS Yediyurappa told reporters here that the party's alliance with JD(S) would continue in Karnataka post-Lok Sabha election, adding that the parties would fight the elections to the Karnataka Legislative Council together.
Speaking to the media representatives in Mysuru on Saturday, Yediyurappa said that the BJP-JD(S) alliance would fight from six constituencies, and the BJP would contest for four seats while the JD(S) would field their candidates in two seats. He, however, admitted that seat sharing had to be discussed further, to decide on the constituencies for the BJP and those for the JD(S) to fight from.
Yediyurappa added that the decision taken between the parties on the choice of constituencies would be made public by BJP National President JP Nadda on Saturday night.
The veteran expressed confidence on the BJP winning more than 400 seats in the present Lok Sabha elections and Prime Minister Narendra Modi retaining the seat. He said that, in Karnataka, the party would win in at least 25 constituencies. Yediyurappa said that the BJP was not bothered by the statements of the Congress, which did not even have a worthy PM candidate.
Asked to comment on the recent Hassan controversy, he opined that the case be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for transparency in the probe.
Yediyurappa, however, refused to comment on rebel BJP member KS Eshwarappa, who contested against Yediyurappa's son BY Raghavendra from Shimoga as an Independent candidate, but expressed confidence that Raghavendra would win with a 2.5 lakh margin.
When asked about the drought in Karnataka, the former CM admitted that the people were struggling due to the intensity of drought and said that the state government should waive the loans of the farmers to support them.
