While making the DA hike announcement, the Centre had said last month that the DA arrears would not be paid before the March month’s salary disbursement.
7th Pay Commission: Even if the Centre hiked the dearness allowance of the government employees by 4% in March 2024, they did not get their revised pay last month. However, they expect that the hiked salary will be credited to their account in April salary itself along with 3-month arrears, a report by News 18 stated.
While making the DA hike announcement, the Centre had said last month that the DA arrears would not be paid before the March month’s salary disbursement. An Office Memorandum (OM) released by the Central government said, “The payment of arrears of Dearness Allowance shall not be made before the date of disbursement of salary of March 2024.”
What Is DA and DR?
While DA is granted to government employees, DR is given to pensioners. In general the DA and DR are hiked twice a year – one with effect from January and other from July.
DA Hiked in March 2024
The Central Government had on March 7 approved a 4 per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) to 50 per cent of the basic pay. This time, the 4 per cent DA hike, which will benefit over one crore central government employees and pensioners, became effective from January 1, 2024. Apart from DA and DR Hike, the HRA was increased for the employees. The Centre had said that the DA hike will cost the exchequer Rs 12,868 crore.
How Much Salary Will Hike For Govt Employees?
After the Centre announced a 4 per cent DA hike, now how much salary hike the central government employees will get now? If an employee’s salary is Rs 50,000 per month and has Rs 15,000 as the basic pay. If he currently gets Rs 6,900, which is 46 per cent of the basic pay. However, after the 4 per cent hike, he will get Rs 7,500 per month, which is Rs 600 higher as compared with Rs 6,900 earlier.
Moreover, if the employee has a Rs 50,000 salary a month with Rs 15,000 as the basic pay, his or her salary will rise by Rs 600 per month.
In the previous DA hike in October 2023, the government had increased the dearness allowance and dearness relief by 4 per cent to 46 per cent.
How DA Hike is Calculated by The Centre
The Central government employees must note that the DA and DR hike is decided based on the percentage increase in the 12-month average of the All-India CPI-IW. Even as the central government revises the allowances on January 1 and July 1 every year, the decision is generally announced in March and September/October.