PM: 42 lakh senior citizens gave up railway concessions

New Delhi: Claiming that many well-off people are giving up subsidy benefits after his government’s ‘Give it up’ campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that 42 lakh senior citizens had voluntarily given up their railway concession in the past nine months while 1.25 crore families had surrendered their gas subsidy.

“I had made one simple request from Red Fort that those who can afford and are capable of buying LPG, they should give up the subsidy and 1.25 crore families left it. Otherwise you know what is said about people in our country that no one leaves any benefits once they start receiving them. But among this mentality, if out of 25 crore families, 1.25 crore families gave up their gas subsidies just on one request, you can feel the country’s pulse,” he said. Giving another example on environment of honesty that has been fostered in the country and more and more people coming forward to contribute to nation building, the PM also said that 42 lakh senior citizens had voluntarily given up their railway concession in past nine months. “Here I had not announced anything. But the railways itself on their form asked people if those who can afford would want to give up their senior citizen concessions. You would be surprised to know and I am proud to say that in the past 89 months, 42 lakh elderly passengers have voluntarily not taken the benefit of their subsidies,” he added. “Similarly, I had requested the doctors to treat pregnant women and provide free ante-natal services free of cost on ninth of every month.”