Budget 2025: Senior citizens have big expectations from the budget of year 2025. Senior citizens have demanded that the discount on train tickets should be reinstated. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, 40% to 50% concession was available on railway tickets but this facility was stopped during the Covid pandemic. Now that the impact of the pandemic is over, this relaxation has still not been introduced.
Exemption was available till 2019
Till the end of 2019, Indian Railways used to give discounts to senior citizens on tickets of trains like Mail, Express, Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto. Men aged 60 years and above got 40% discount on tickets and women aged 58 years and above got 50% discount on tickets. For example, if the First AC ticket of Rajdhani Express was for Rs 4,000, then for senior citizens this ticket was available for Rs 2,000 or Rs 2,300.
Facility closed after Covid
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government stopped discounting on railway tickets. This facility was not restarted even after the pandemic ended. Senior citizens say that they have limited sources of income after retirement. In such a situation, their journey became cheaper due to railway discount. Now, they want this exemption to be reintroduced so that they can get relief.
Expectations from Budget 2025
On February 1, 2025, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the first budget of the third term of the Modi government. Senior citizens believe that the government should include their demand in the budget. This will benefit lakhs of senior citizens and their travel will become economical. Now it remains to be seen whether the Finance Minister fulfills this expectation of senior citizens or not. Will Budget 2025 bring relief for them? This question is on everyone’s lips.