Railway users will soon have the option to voluntarily give up the government subsidy on their tickets and pay the full fare. After the success of the “Give It Up” campaign on cooking gas subsidy, the government plans a similar move for rail fares. The scheme will be launched in the month of August, 2017.
As per the sources, there will be two slabs for subsidy surrender — 50% and 100% of the subsidy amount. The state-run transporter bears a loss of INR 30,000 crore every year in subsiding passenger fares. The “Give It Up” option will be available for tickets booked both online or from the counters.
Recent Government Initiatives to Reduce Subsidy Burden
1. “Indian Railways recovers only 57% of the cost of travel on an average” is printed on every computerised ticket to create awareness.
2. Introduced dynamic fares in superfast trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi.
As per rough estimates, the fare for a 3AC ticket between New Delhi to Mumbai on a superfast train is usually around INR 1,570, which will increase to INR 2,750 for a passenger who gives up subsidy. The cost of a 2AC coach will be around INR 3,990 instead of INR 2,275.
An official said “ We expect the people who are well-off to forego the subsidy, details of which will be printed on the tickets”.
