Over nine lakh senior citizens voluntarily gave up their subsidies in full or part to save the Indian Railways around Rs 40 crore. (file/AP Photo) Over nine lakh senior citizens voluntarily gave up their subsidies in full or part to save the Indian Railways around Rs 40 crore. (file/AP Photo)

Over nine lakh senior citizens voluntarily gave up their subsidy on railway tickets under the ‘give up’ scheme, according to a PTI report. This resulted in nearly Rs 40 crore savings for the Indian Railways. The scheme, launched last year, allowed senior citizens to either avail the full concession they were entitled to receive or relinquish the subsidy completely. From this year, senior citizens were also given the option of giving up 50 per cent of the subsidy amount.

The ‘give up’ scheme was launched to ease the financial burden on the struggling public transport giant. Around Rs 1,300 crore subsidy was allocated to senior citizens alone. According to the data released by the government, from July 22 to October 22 this year, as many as 2.16 lakh men and 2.67 lakh women relinquished full subsidy on travel. On the other hand, 2.51 lakh men and 2.05 lakh women chose to give up 50 per cent subsidy. The total number of passengers to give up full or part of their subsidy was 9.39 lakh in the three-month period.

The number is a significant jump from last year. In 2016, during the same period, a total of 4.68 lakh senior citizen relinquished their subsidies. These passengers comprised 2.35 lakh men and 2.33 lakh women.

“The figures show that the number of people forgoing the subsidy has doubled in one year. It is great news for Railways as we are looking to reduce our losses incurred through subsidies,” PTI quoted a senior official of the Railway Ministry.

Currently, the Railways has to bear as much as 43 per cent of the train fare cost, resulting in a loss of up to Rs 30,000 crore a year. This includes Rs 1,600 crore concessional fares. Only 57 per cent of expenses incurred for passenger travel is recovered via ticket sales combining all classes.

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