Chandigarh: The Punjab government has decided to increase dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners by 8 percent. About eight lakh employees and pensioners will benefit from this. The government has said that the increased DA will be given in two installments. Both the installments will be 4% each and this will increase the total DA to 50%. This decision was taken after a meeting between Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and representatives of employee and pensioner organisations. Information has come to light that the increased DA will be included in the salary received along with the September salary, i.e. on October 1.
When will employees get the benefit of increased DA?
According to the government’s decision, 8 percent DA will be released in two parts. After both the installments of 4% each, the total DA of employees and pensioners will be 50%. According to reports, the increased amount will be added to the September salary and this salary is to be credited to the account on October 1. That means, before the festive season, employees are expected to get the benefit of increased allowance.
How many employees and pensioners will get the benefit?
About eight lakh employees and pensioners of the state will be affected by this decision of the government. These include about four lakh government employees and about 3.5 lakh pensioners. The government has said this was a decision taken after discussions with the employees. The additional amount received by each employee due to increase in DA will vary according to his basic salary.
What negotiations took place between the employee organisations and the government?
There was a tussle going on between the government and employee organisations in Punjab for the last several weeks regarding DA. On September 18, a meeting was held with representatives of employee and pensioner organisations in the presence of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Chandigarh. After this conversation, it was agreed to release the two pending installments of DA. Cabinet Minister Aman Arora and senior officials including Baljeet Kaur were also present in the meeting.
Will the old DA dues also be paid?
After the announcement of new 8 percent DA, the issue of old dues has not been completely resolved yet. Employee organisations have been demanding payment of past pending DA installments and arrears for a long time. According to reports, DA and DR dues of about Rs 14,191 crore in Punjab are also part of the dispute. A separate legal process is going on regarding this matter.
Did the employees’ agitation stop after the government’s decision?
After the announcement of DA, there was a change in the situation of the employees’ agitation which had been going on for about three weeks. Apart from the pending DA installments, the main demands of the employee organisations also included several other service-related issues. After talks between the government and employee representatives, it was agreed to increase DA immediately, while it has been said that further talks will be continued on other demands.
Will there be further talks on other demands also?
Apart from DA, the employees also raised the old pension scheme, ACP and other pending demands in the meeting. The government is assured to discuss these issues further. There is a possibility of another meeting between employee organisations and the government in the coming days. In this way, a major issue has been resolved immediately by the 8 percent DA increase, but the remaining demands of the employees are still pending discussion.
