Gujarat government announces 3% hike in dearness allowance for more than 9 lakh employees

In good news for over nine lakh state government employees and pensioners, the Gujarat government has hiked the Dearness Allowance (DA) to 12 per cent from the existing nine per cent under the 7th Pay Commission recommendations.

The increase in DA would create an additional burden of Rs 1071 crore annually on the state exchequer.

Just before the announcement of Lok Sabha polls, the Central Government had announced a 3 per cent hike in the DA and Dearness Relief (DR) for employees and pensioners under the 7th Pay Commission recommendations. The move was to be followed by the state governments gradually.

Earlier, the Madhya Pradesh government announced the 3 per cent hike in the DA and DR for government employees under 7th Pay Commission recommendations.

The Other States to Announce Salary Hike For Employees:

• The Uttar Pradesh government announced a hike in the DA after the Central government employees received their share of the bonanza, as per the seventh pay commission.
• Bihar announced DA and DR hike for its government employees and pensioners. The Nitish Kumar government in the state increased the dearness allowance and dearness relief by 3 per cent taking it from 9 per cent to 12 per cent. The move came into effect from January 1, 2019, and benefitted around 4 lakh state government employees and six lakh pensioners. It will put an additional annual burden of Rs 1,100.94 crore on the state exchequer.
• Another state which has made a similar announcement a few months back is Uttarakhand. The Trivendra Singh Rawat-government agreed to a 3 per cent DA and DR hike for state employees and pensioners. The increase from 9 per cent to 12 per cent under the 7th Pay Commission came into retrospective effect from January 1, 2019. The move benefitted around 2.5 lakh government employees and pensioners.
• The salary hike with regard to a 3 per cent increase in DA and DR under 7th Pay Commission was announced for the employees and pensioners in Jammu and Kashmir. The decision was taken at the State Administrative Council (SAC) meeting in Jammu which was held under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik.
• A pay hike was also announced for the employees of Odisha under the 7th Pay Commission. The state government announced a 3 per cent hike in the Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief for its employees and pensioners. At least 7 lakh employees will get the 12 per cent DA and DR benefit retrospectively from January 1, 2019. The move will put an extra burden of Rs 500 crore on the state exchequer.
• The Rajasthan government had recently hiked the Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief for its employees from 9 per cent to 12 per cent. The move will benefit 8.5 lakh employees and 3.5 lakh pensioners of the state government and put a financial burden of Rs 1,435 crore on the state exchequer.
• Meanwhile, the Central government employees are expecting a hike in their DA by four per cent in July 2019 to reach up to 16 per cent. If the allowance hike is implemented, it will be the biggest increase in the DA since the implementation of the 7th pay scale in 2016.
• Over 50 lakhs Central Government employees and an equivalent number of pensioners are expecting positive news from the government regarding their demands of minimum pay and fitment factor beyond 7th Pay Commission recommendations in the upcoming Union Budget.
• The CG employees who were demanding Rs 8,000 hike in minimum pay and an increase of up to 3.68 times in fitment factor beyond 7th Central Pay Commission or 7th CPC were left disappointed with the announcement of Lok Sabha polls dates as the Model Code of Conduct came into force as soon as the declaration of the schedule for general elections was announced.

Source: india.com