DA Hike: Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chowdhary said in the Rajya Sabha that the decision to freeze three installments of DA of central government employees was taken in view of the coronavirus. During the Corona period, there was a lot of economic pressure on the government.
DA: There is a lot of hope of increasing the Dearness Allowance (DA) to the central employees. On the other hand, DA is increased from time to time by the government. Although 18 months DA of central employees is still pending. Regarding which a reply has also been filed in the Parliament on behalf of the government. Along with this, the pending DA of 18 months has also been discussed. Lakhs of central government employees are waiting for their 18 months’ dearness allowance (DA) arrears. Regarding which it has been said by the Ministry of Finance that after Corona this was done to reduce the pressure on government finances.
Freeze three installments
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in the Rajya Sabha that the decision to freeze the three installments of DA of central government employees on January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021 was taken in view of the coronavirus. During the Corona period, there was a lot of economic pressure on the government. In such a situation, such a step was taken to reduce the pressure of finance.
Dearness Allowance
Pankaj Chowdhary said that it was not considered possible to release the outstanding DA/DR for the financial year 2020-21 for the financial impact of the pandemic in the year 2020 and to finance the welfare measures taken by the government. However, till when the outstanding DA of 18 months will be paid, the stand has not been clarified by the government at the moment.
Money is left for 18 months
Choudhary also informed that several representations have been received from different employees/pensioners associations of Central Government regarding the release of DA/DR arrears of 18 months. At the same time last year, it was told by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that by stopping DA and DR, about Rs 34,402 crore was saved by the government. However, in July 2021, the ban on DA was removed and DA and DR allowances were provided to the employees.
