NEW DELHI: Indian Railways has incurred huge losses from granting concessions in passenger fare during 2019-20 and previous years.
As per a reply to an RTI query, the Railways suffered a loss of Rs 2,058.61 crore in 2019-20 by granting these concessions.
It has been decided that restoration of all concessions is not feasible.
Accordingly, 38 of 53 categories of passenger fare concessions have been scrapped. As per RTI details, passenger fare in Indian Railways is highly subsidised and revenue generated from this is less than the operation cost.
The revenue foregone due to concessions in various categories in 2020-21 was Rs 38 crore.
This has prompted the Railways to suspend 38 categories of concessions out of 53. At present, concession in passenger fare has been restored only in four categories of ‘Divyangjan’ and 11 categories of patients and students.
Union Railway Minister Ashiwni Vaishnaw has categorically said that concessions would remain withdrawn until a fresh decision is taken. He was replying to a query in Lok Sabha on the concessions in Indian Railways.
He also stated that many representations were received for restoration of these concessions. After consideration, these were deemed to be not feasible.