Four and a half lakh pensioners of Madhya Pradesh have not been able to get the benefit of the increased rates of dearness allowance on Diwali. In fact, the state government had increased dearness allowance by 8% to all the officer employees who got the benefit of the seventh pay scale, but the pensioners were deprived of it.
The pensioners of Madhya Pradesh had to live with grief on Diwali. They could not get the benefit of the 8% increased inflation rate like other officer employees. In fact, when the pensioners of Madhya Pradesh have to be given the benefit of dearness allowance, then the state government takes consent from the state of Chhattisgarh under section 49 of the state reorganization. Same is the case with the pensioners of Chhattisgarh state also.
At present there are 4.5 lakh pensioners in Madhya Pradesh and these pensioners could not get the benefit of dearness allowance just because the consent could not be obtained from the state of Chhattisgarh under section 49 of the state reorganization. Anil Bajpai, state president of retired semi-government officers employees’ federation and general secretary Arun Verma say that this time we had a dark Diwali.
If the government had taken the consent of the Chhattisgarh government on time and had issued an order to increase the dearness allowance, then the pensioner officers employees would also have been able to celebrate Diwali with enthusiasm. The pensioners have demanded from the Chief Minister that whenever the state government officers increase the dearness allowance of the employees, it should also be mentioned in it that the pensioners will also get the benefit of dearness allowance and for this all the formalities should be completed.
