New Delhi ,Jan, 28; Central government employees and pensioners may soon get some good news as the government is likely to announce a hike in dearness allowance (DA). Along with this, a big announcement can also be made on their 18-month outstanding DA arrears. If this happens, up to Rs 2 lakh can be transferred to the account of government employees. This will benefit more than one crore central employees and pensioners.
The central government has not paid DA (Dearness Allowance) to its employees for 18 months i.e. between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. Employees have been demanding this payment for a long time.
As per media reports, the government may announce a decision in this respect soon. After this, the central employees can be paid a lump sum dearness allowance. This will benefit over 2 million employees.
If the Modi government decides on payment of the outstanding allowances of the employees, the central employees are expected to benefit up to Rs 2 lakh. The DA arrears of Level-1 employees range from Rs.11880 to Rs.375.54. Similarly, level-13 and level-14 employees can get Rs 144,200 to Rs 218,200 as DA arrears.
Several rounds of talks have been held between the Finance Ministry, the National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery and the Department of Personnel and Training in this regard. But no decision has been taken so far. It is believed that in the next few days, this issue may be discussed with the Cabinet Secretary.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Pensioners’ Forum has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the arrear payment.
DA may raise by 3%
The DA of central government employees is updated twice a year between January and July. It is calculated by multiplying the present rate of dearness allowance by the basic pay.DA is given to government employees and public sector employees and pensioners to help the employees in their living expenses. This time, the DA may increase by three per cent.
If this happens, the total DA of central employees may increase from 31 per cent to 34 per cent. Thereafter, the dearness allowance on a basic salary of Rs 18,000 will be Rs 6,120. Similarly, the DA of the employees with the maximum salary slab will increase to Rs 19346 per month.
