Railways to delink travell concessions

Welcome suggestion to delink the railways from the 53 concessions . Otherwise the Rs. 1,500 Crores expense on this will reflect on the profitability of the railways and will show it always in the red, though sincere efforts are taken to make it at least viable ; If not profitable . The Railways as well as all PSU’s are no doubt for the welfare of the Public, Infra structure for the public , but not at all at the cost of its economic Viability and performance ; any Government enterprise should aim at least to break even first, if not make profit ; but not become a profiteering organization. Certain decisions of the Railways some times amount to profiteering ; for example doubling the cancellation charges , increasing the upper class fares alone ; these are easy way out rather than solutions to treat the malady.
Shree Suresh Prabhu has identified the malady systematically with his efficient team ; and of course the large contribution of constructive criticisms from “Make railways better”, can’t be underestimated . THANKS AGAIN FOR KINDLING THE OTHERWISE IDLE MIND. The news item in “The Hidu” of 3rd June 2016 says that the railways provide 53 types of concessions that contributes to the loss of Rs. 1,500 Crores . Out this a major chunk 1,000 crores is accounted for concession for the senior citizens. Railways doesn’t want to stop these concessions ,but wants them to be borne by the concerned ministries. Fair enough; restrict the functions and commitment of the railways only towards Passenger, Fright , railway connected infra structure , catering . So that the entire concentration and commitment is on those mentioned above. That should give a general boost in all areas including the worker efficiency that can take the railways to great heights.

1. The concerned ministries to foot the bills of the 53 such concessions including the Senior citizen concession. It was a grave mistake of former railway ministers to have announced the Senior citizen concession on one stroke from the Railway side . They should have done some home work of contacting the social Justice department and coordinated to this percentage of 40 and 50% concession. The aberrations committed in a hurry or off hand, and new found enthusiasm would have prompted for this concession for Senior citizens .
The senior citizens do require some concession . They are :
1. Priority and special “Q” in booking
2. Lower Birth allotment .
3. Special care by the attendants in the compartments while loading unloading Baggage, while getting down from the compartment , getting in to the compartments in all classes
4. Financial concession should be accorded ONLY FOR THE NON A/C PASSENGERS AND NOT THE A/C CLASS .Once they chose A/C class comfort they become select and special class who don’t require concession. Concentrate on the have-nots rather than the ones who have . Example the pensioners and the ones doing business and actively earning , don’t need this concession at all. Why should the railways impose this concession on the Senior citizens who don’t need this at all. How many of these class of Senior citizens have denounced concession at the time of booking ,Very negligible . Rail;lways do the same as Gas Subsidy.
This mentality of getting concession and freebies from the Government is not only with the needy but also from the Greedy.

Solutions :
1. social justice should prevail, not on random basis. Offering financial benefits to a class of people who don’t fall in the B.P.L . is not at all warranted[justified] ; establish first of all their economic/ financial status before the offer . This could be established from the ration card / Adhaar card ; then issue concession only to senior citizens on Economic status basis and not for all.
2. The concession for A/C class should be removed .
3.Let the concessions to be issued from the concerned Ministries to foot the bills; this should be on the basis of pay to the railways first then collect from the concerned Ministries by the concession seekers. Make it easy on line through bank also to avoid the hassle and corruption. The central Government will have to do a lot of home work coordinating with Railways to make this a smooth process and at the same time not to make these class of 53 to suffer. The Central Government should leave this 53 out of the ambit of Railways for concession.
4. No doubt the senior citizens do need special care in the platforms and compartments ; like electric cars to transport them in the platforms, make sure to provide help through the attendants in the coaches . That is what they expect from the railways.
5. Road Transport and Rail network has been given a lot of priority as this Government has realized, that transport facilities will assist in raising the living standards of the people in the Villages . Improvement of Railway network will also save on oil import ,save the environmental degradation.
The Government does have Social obligations towards the needy . But need not be necessarily at the cost of developing standards of the villagers, save on oil imports and Environment.
Look at the new item attached.
Jai Hind. more