According to the notification released by the West Bengal government, the order comes into implementation with effect from 1st April 2024.
New Delhi: The Mamata Banerjee-led Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief increased by 4 percent. According to the notification released by the government, the order comes into implementation with effect from 1st April 2024. The Sikkim government has also hiked dearness allowance (DA) by four per cent for its employees and pensioners, with effect from July 1, 2023. The decision was taken during the first cabinet meeting of the second Sikkim Krantikari Morcha government on Monday evening (June 10, 2024).
The meeting was presided over by Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang. With the four per cent hike, the dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners has gone up to 46 per cent, said officials, according to a PTI report.
The increase in DA will have an impact of Rs 174.6 crore on the state exchequer in the current financial year, they added.
What Is Dearness Allowance?
For general information, the Central and state government employees receive dearness allowance two times a year to compensate for the price rise and inflation. When DA will be hiked this time in July, over 50 lakh central government employees and 67 lakh pensioners will be benefited from the move of the Central government.
When Last DA Hike Announced?
The Central government had in March this year hiked the DA for government employees by 4% to 50%. This led to the speculations that the allowance would now be merged into the basic pay. The development came as the Centre during the 5th Pay Commission in 2004 had merged DA into the basic salary after the allowance hit the 50% ceiling. However, no such steps were recommended by the 6th Pay Commission.
Experts closely following the developments are of opinion that the Centre might consider merging DA into the basic pay this time as other allowances like house rent allowance, children’s education allowance, special allowance for childcare, hostel subsidy and gratuity ceiling were revised automatically after DA was hiked to 50%.