Good news for central government employees and pensioners, the pending dearness allowance and dearness relief hike has been approved by the government after almost a year.
The central government approved a hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) benefits given to central government employees and pensioners on Wednesday. The hike has been approved from 17 per cent to 28 per cent after it was put on hold last year.
This news has brought tremendous relief for lakhs of central government employees and pensioners who have been waiting for the declaration for months amid the ongoing pandemic.
The DA and DR hike under the Seventh Central Pay Commission (7th CPC) will come into effect from July 1, 2021. This move is expected to cost the government approximately Rs. 34,400 crore.
“The Cabinet Committee chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today has approved the increase in the Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief to pensioners with effect from 01.07.2021 to 28% representing an increase of 11% over the existing rate of 17% of the Basic Pay/Pension,” the Centre said in a statement.
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Before the hike was approved by the cabinet, three DA instalments were due — two from 2020 and one from 2021: (01.01.2020, 01.07.2020 and 01.01.2021). As part of the three pending instalments, an 11 per cent DA hike has been approved.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the central government put a hold on the DA of the central government employees last year. “In view of the unprecedented situation which arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic, three additional instalments of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners, which were due from 01.01.2020, 01.07.2020 and 01.01.2021, had been frozen,” the Cabinet said in a statement.
The government employees and pensioners have not received any DA arrears from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. Earlier it was mentioned that any hike in DA due to revision on July 1, 2021, will also take into account the previous hikes.
This move will benefit nearly 65 lakh pensioners and 50 lakh employees.
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