On the very first day of Navratri, great news came for lakhs of railway employees. The Union Cabinet approved payment of 78 days’ productivity linked bonus of Rs 2028.57 crore to over 11.72 lakh railway employees. However, in the meantime, the central employees who were expecting an increase in DA got a shock. This is because no announcement has been made by the government regarding DA hike yet. However, according to different media reports, the government may soon announce an increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR). Let us tell you that earlier last year the Central Government had announced DA increase in the first week of October.
DA may increase by 3%
According to media reports, dearness allowance for central employees may increase by 3 percent. Let us inform you that last month, the Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers had written a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman expressing concern over the delay in the announcement of DA/DR increase. The Confederation wrote in the letter that there is dissatisfaction among employees and pensioners due to delay in declaration of DA/DR and said that Durga Puja festival is approaching and PLB (Performance-Linked Bonus) and Adhoc Bonus are also to be declared.
The Center announces dearness allowance twice a year in January and July to help government employees cope with rising inflation and price rise. At present, more than one crore central government employees and pensioners are getting 50 percent dearness allowance.
