Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday 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.
In spite of these challenges, Vaishnaw further informed, Indian Railways has "continued concession in fares to four categories of persons with disabilities, eleven categories of patients and students".
The reply came when asked "whether it is a fact that Government has not resumed subsidized train tickets and concessions for the elderly".
The proceeding in Rajya Sabha was once again adjourned till 2:30 pm on Friday amid a ruckus by Opposition members over issues of inflation, price rise and GST hike on daily essentials.
The session of Upper House was adjourned after the Question Hour.
However, Lok Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm amid opposition protests over price rise. This was the second adjournment in a day in both the Houses.
Earlier, both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha were adjourned till 12 noon over a ruckus by Opposition members on issues of inflation and misuse of Central agencies.
Both the Houses are witnessing continuous adjournments since the session has begun.
Friday was the fourth successive day since the monsoon session began that both the Houses were adjourned minutes after assembling without any productivity.
Notably, Opposition leaders including Congress MPs are again protesting against the Central government over the issues of inflation and price rise in Parliament.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with top ministers to discuss the government's strategy in Parliament as the Opposition parties are continuously creating ruckus and forcing adjournment of the Houses.
Union ministers including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Pralhad Joshi, Anurag Thakur, Kiren Rijiju, and Piyush Goyal were present in the meeting.
( With inputs from ANI )
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