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| - Fact Check: Are senior citizen concessions back in Indian Railways? Viral post is a hoax
The viral claim that Indian railways will resume concessions on ticket pricing for senior citizens from July 1 is a hoax. No such decision has been announced by the Ministry of Railway.
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India Today Fact Check
This viral claim is a hoax. No such decision has been announced. In fact, the Minister of Railways has expressly stated that there are no plans to resume concessions for senior citizens at the moment.
Will the Indian Railways resume the concessions for senior citizens from July? A viral message on social media claims that from July 1, the Indian Railways will resume discounting tickets for senior citizens. Per the post the concessions will be 40 per cent for males above the age of 60 and 50 per cent for females above the age of 58.
This post and similar ones have been shared by many on Facebook.
AFWA found that the viral claim is a hoax. No such decision has been announced by the Indian Railways or the Ministry of Railways.
The viral posts have been archived here and here.
Ministry of Railways says no
India Today went straight to the horse’s mouth and contacted Rajeev Jain, ADG Public Relations, Ministry of Railways. Jain categorically denied this viral post, calling it “fake news”. He said, “No such decision has been taken, there will be no change in concessions from July 1. Only the existing concessions will continue.”
On May 19, this year while speaking to reporters at IIT Madras, Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the concession for senior citizens could not be resumed because the Railways was already operating at a subsidised rate.
“For every Rs. 100 spent towards operational expenses, the Railways collects only Rs. 45 from a passenger. We have to contribute to keeping the railways a sustainable mode of transport,” the minister emphasised.
Who started this rumour?
A Facebook page named "Rail Mail" claimed in a post that the Indian Railways was set to resume concession for the elderly starting July 1. However, the Facebook page later retracted its claim and apologised for its error.
On June 11, a Twitter user raised a query about the concession for the elderly, to which the official Twitter account of Railway Seva replied, "Presently concessions are being given to 4 categories of Divyangjan, and 11 categories of Patients and Students," reinstating that the claim about the resumption of concessions for elderly was false.
What are the present concessions in place?
Indian Railways concessions used to range from 25 per cent to 100 per cent in 53 categories. The details of these concessions can be seen here.
But in view of the pandemic and Covid-19 protocols, with effect from March 20, 2020, the Railways indefinitely discontinued concessions with exception to only four categories of Divyangjan, 11 categories of patients, and students. In March this year, the Railway Minister said in the Lok Sabha that the ministry had no plans to restore the concessions for senior citizens.
Even the Press Information Bureau fact-checked this claim and tweeted that posts like these had no factual basis.
(With inputs from Sanjana Saxena)
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