Rahul Gandhi slams Centre over no concession on rail tickets to senior citizens

New Delhi, July 22: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked BJP for not granting rail ticket concessions to senior citizens.

The former Congress president alleged that while it can even reach for the stars for its "friends", it will make the common people yearn for every penny.

Gandhi also listed out the money spent by the government on advertisements, a new aeroplane and tax concession to "friends". "Advertising expenses: Rs 911 crore. New plane: Rs 8,400 crore. Tax exemption for capitalist friends: Rs 1,45,000 crore per year. But the government does not have Rs 1,500 crore to give concessions in rail tickets to the elderly. Will even reach for the stars (tare tak tod kar layenge) for friends, but will make people yearn for every penny," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

The government used to provide up to 50 per cent concessions to senior citizens in rail tickets but the facility has been suspended ever since the outbreak of COVID-19.

On the other hand, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has informed the Rajya Sabha that "extending the scope of concessions to all categories of passengers including senior citizens is not desirable". Giving a written reply to a query raised by Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh, the Railway Minister said "Indian Railways is already bearing more than 50 per cent of the cost of travel on an average for all passengers including senior citizens on account of lower fare structure for passenger services".

Apart from this due to Covid-19, Vaishnaw said that the passenger earnings for the last two years are "less" in comparison to 2019-2020.

"These have a long-term impact on the financial health of the Railways," he said. "Cost of granting concessions weighs heavily on Railways. Hence extending the scope of concessions to all categories of passengers including senior citizens is not desirable," said the minister.