Team Herald
MARGAO: The All-Goa Senior Citizens Federation (AGSCF) on Friday demanded that the government restore the railway concession for senior citizens, which was discontinued due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Diago Da Costa, Vice-President of AGSCF, informed reporters that their association has submitted a memorandum to the members of Parliament of Goa, to push for the restoration of the said concession for senior citizens, who are already facing various hardships.
It may be recalled that senior citizens were given concessions for railway travelling; however, the scheme was halted during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recently, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha had stated that the Indian Railways may soon restore the senior citizen concessions.
The Minister had also stated that a parliamentary panel recommended that the discount on railway tickets to senior citizens should be restored.
The Minister had pointed out that the standing committee on Railways has advised to review and consider concessions to senior citizens, at least for sleeper and third AC classes of rail travel.
“Our request to the central government is to restore the concession at the earliest so that the vulnerable and the genuinely needy senior citizens could avail this facility,” said Da Costa.
He said that their federation has requested the MPs of Goa to support
the demand when it comes up for discussion in the parliament.
AGSCF has high hopes that all the MPs will
unite to fight for the cause of the senior citizens, keeping aside their party affiliations.
“Most senior citizens are not capable of paying the full ticket price to travel by train. Hence, we have requested the central government to take the issue seriously and restore the concession at the earliest. This is a genuine cause,” said Da Costa.