Centre turns down appeal to release 3 DR instalments

NEW DELHI: The finance ministry on Monday turned down a request from pensioners to release three instalments of dearness relief (DR) held back during the peak days of the Covid-19 pandemic as part of the government’s expenditure control measures to fund urgent relief work, two people aware of the matter said.

It is estimated that the total amount of DR (for pensioners) and dearness allowance (DA) meant for central government employees thus held back was approximately ₹34,000 crore, they added on condition of anonymity.

DA and DR are paid to adjust for the cost of living and to protect basic pay or pension from erosion on account of inflation.

“At the 32nd meeting of standing committee of voluntary agencies for review and rationalisation of pension rules, a representative of the Department of Expenditure (DoE) specified that the amount of DAs and DRs that had been frozen would not be restored,” one of the two people said.

DoE is an arm of the Union finance ministry. The meeting was chaired by Union minister for pensioners welfare Jitendra Singh and held on Monday.

“Among the agenda items was discussing the payment of the dearness allowance and relief, and the petitioners sought that the amount that was frozen during the Covid-19 pandemic,” this person added.

Email queries sent to ministries of finance and DoE did not elicit any response.

After the freeze was removed in July 21, the DA and DR allowances have seen three increases that effectively double them.

“Department of Pension looks after the welfare of Pensioners and addresses their grievances at multiple levels in prompt fashion,” a personnel, public grievances and pensions official said.

“Disbursal of DA and DR does not fall in the ambit of the ministry.”

The government froze DAs and DRs from April 2020, a month after the Covid-19 pandemic hit India that triggered a prolonged nationwide lockdown.

According to the second person, “in view of the unprecedented situation which arose due to the Covid-19 pandemic, three instalments of DA to central government employees and DR to pensioners, which were due from 01.01.2020, 01.07.2020 and 01.01.2021, were frozen.”

In August 2021, in a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this saved “approximately ₹34,402 crore”.

SC Maheshwari, secretary general of Bharat Pensioners’ Samaj, claimed that the frozen amount along with interests could be over ₹36,000 crore. “At least they [the government] should pay the backlog for pensioners as they have no other means to survive.”

“There are various other issues related to pensioners, which were also raised, for example inadequate health care facilities and poor CGHS system. We served the country, now we are retired. They [the government] should treat all lives as equal,” he added.

Another government official who asked not to be identified said that the allowance was frozen for all government employees.

The Union Cabinet on March 30 raised the DA by three percentage points to 34% of the basic pay/pension for 4.77 million central government employees and effected a similar increase DR for 6.86 million pensioners. The change was made with retrospective effect from January 1.

“The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief would be ₹9,544.50 crore per annum,” an official statement issued after the Cabinet meeting said.

The announcement of the latest hike came in under five months after the government raised the DA and DR by three percentage points to 31% in October 2021.

In July 2021, the Union government revoked the suspension on DA and DR that was imposed due to unprecedented economic disruption because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and raised the two allowances from 17% to 28%.

AFTER THE FREEZE WAS REMOVED IN JULY 21, THE DEARNESS ALLOWANCE AND DEARNESS RELIEF HAVE SEEN THREE INCREASES THAT EFFECTIVELY DOUBLED THEM