There are more central government pensioners from the railways in the 80-100 years age group than any other department, indicating that they "outlive" the personnel from any other service, a senior official of the national transporter said today.
The railways has over 13 lakh pensioners, of which 2,30,409 are in the 80-90 age bracket and 55,684 in the 90-100 years category, the official told PTI.
Of the total pension paid by the Government of India, 21 per cent is paid by the railways to its former employees in the age group of 80-90 and four per cent to those in the 90-100 age group, according to Seventh Pay Commission data.
In comparison, only eight per cent ex-employees from the defence services in the age group of 80-90 years still draw pension. In the 90 to 100 years, it is two per cent, according to the data.
The lowest in this regard is in the central civil services, where only seven per cent are in the 80-100 age group and one per cent in the 90-100 years bracket, the data said.
"This data shows that the working condition in the railways is much better than other services, as our employees outlive those in the other services. This data also shows that they are well taken care of. A total of 13,75,483 people in the age group of 80-100 years draw railway pension as of now. Currently, we employ around 13 lakh people," the official said.
In the postal services, seven per cent employees in the age group of 80-90 years still draw pension, while a mere one per cent do so in the 90-100 years age group.
This data, the official said, is likely to be discussed at the next Pragati meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.