Indian Railways Suspended Ticket Concessions due to COVID-19

Indian Railways has announced the abolition of fare exemption for various categories of passengers, including senior citizens, on which railway passengers have expressed their resentment. According to railway officials, the decision has been taken to discourage senior citizens and other passengers from traveling unnecessarily in order to prevent the epidemic of Covid-19 virus. Railways give discounts in total of 53 categories out of which only 15 class passengers will be exempted and for the remaining 38 categories the exemption has been waived off. According to the release, the exemption has been withdrawn for all reserved and unreserved class tickets except patients, students and PWDs. It is already into effect and will continue till further notice.

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Railway Passengers have Expressed Resentment:
This decision of the railways has been criticized by the passengers. At the moment everyone is trying to avoid non-urgent trips and for this reason the Railways have had to cancel more than 85 trains due to low bookings. It has also decided to refund the entire money without any deduction. If one has to travel on an urgent basis, then he must get a concession. Passengers alleged that by abolishing the concessions, the Railways actually want to compensate the losses due to the reduction in bookings. The railways raised the price of platform tickets at all the stations of the country from Rs 10 to Rs 50. There is also heavy resentment among passengers about this decision.

Railways launched an unprecedented and intensive campaign against Coronavirus
The railways have postponed around a hundred trains to prevent the corona virus infection. Some trains have been postponed until the first week of April and some by 31st March. The situation will then be reviewed. Indian Railways have launched an unprecedented and intensive campaign across the country to check the spread of this deadly virus.

In many zones:

• Every coach of the trains in the yard is being meticulously cleaned.
• The toilets of the corners of the seats
• Window panes and the nozzles in the toilets
• The handles at the entrance of the coaches are being micro-cleaned by the chemicals and made microbe-free.

The cleanliness and sanitization of the below-mentioned infrastructure is specially taken care of:

• Escalators
• Railings of bridges
• Ramp railings
• Benches
• Water booths
• Toilets
• Door knobs
• Switches

The station premises are being completely sterilized by steam cleaners. Use of hand sanitizer in guard and driver lobby has been ensured. Passengers are constantly being made aware to prevent infection of coronavirus through the proclamation system at all important stations.

The total number of novel corona virus cases in India rose to 205 after a record number of fresh cases reported from across the country. Maharashtra is the worst affected state highly infected with Covid-19 and maximum number of cases recorded. So, it’s better to be safe and to be alert as we all know that prevention is better than cure.