Kota, October 11 (Udaipur Kiran News). Indian Railways is continuously committed to providing accessible, safe and affordable travel experience to passengers with disabilities. In the same direction, Kota Division of West Central Railway is also making continuous efforts with the aim of connecting the disabled passengers with the mainstream and providing them more facilities in rail travel.
Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Saurabh Jain said that during the current financial year, a total of 616 disabled concession cards have been issued by Kota Division from April till now. At the same time, 110 cards have been issued in the month of September alone. This initiative is an important step towards making railway travel more comfortable, respectable and self-reliant for disabled people.
According to Disabled Cell In-charge – Jairam Meena, Indian Railways provides special concession in fare ranging from 25% to 75% to visually impaired, mentally ill, hearing and speech impaired and physically disabled (orthopedically handicapped) passengers.
Earlier, the same format was used for these four categories, but from the year 2025, Railways has issued a separate format (Annexure-1) for visually impaired passengers and a separate format (Annexure-2) for other categories. Special provision for concession has also been made for 90% or more level of blindness, which is a great relief for visually impaired passengers.
Additionally, if a disabled passenger is accompanied by an escort, he or she also gets the same concession. The details of the concession card issued are updated in the Railway’s software, so that the concession can be easily availed by presenting a photocopy of the card at the time of ticket booking. This facility is also available during e-ticket booking.
This effort of Kota Mandal will continue in the future to ensure access to more disabled people, so that the spirit of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” can be further strengthened.
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(Udaipur Kiran) / Rajeev