Centre gives its staff a Diwali gift: 2% DA hike
New Delhi: In a Diwali bonanza for over 50 lakh government employees and 54 lakh pensioners, the Centre approved two per cent dearness allowance (DA) and relief. The decision taken by the Cabinet and will be effective from July 1. This will result in annual burden of `5,622.10 crore, though for period of 8 months, it would be `3,748.06 crore.
In a Diwali bonanza for more than 50 lakh government employees and 54 lakh pensioners, the Centre on Thursday approved 2 per cent dearness allowance (DA) and relief.
The decision to provide 2 per cent DA on basic pay was taken by the Union Cabinet and will be effective from July 1, 2016.
This will result in annual burden of `5,622.1 crore, though for the period of eight months (JulyFebruary in 2016-17), it would be `3,748.06 crore.
The Central government had increased the DA by 6 per cent to 125 per cent in March. Following the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission, it was merged with the basic pay.
“The Union Cabinet has given its approval to release an instalment of the DA to the Central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners from July 1, representing an increase of 2 per cent on the revised basic pay/pension, to compensate for price rise,” a press statement said.
As per the statement, the increase is in accordance with the accepted formula based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both the DA and DR would be `5,622.1 crore per annum and in the financial year 2016-17 for the period of 8 months (from July 2016 to February 2017), it would be `3,748.06 crore.