Just before the festive season, the Bhagwant Mann government of Punjab has announced a bumper increase of 8 percent in Dearness Allowance (DA), giving a big relief to the government employees and pensioners of the state. This decision was approved in an important high-level meeting held in Chandigarh amid a long-running tussle and agitation by employee organizations. The government has clarified that this 8 percent DA will be given in two installments of 4 percent each, due to which the total DA of state employees has now directly increased to the level of 50 percent. After this historic decision, employee unions have also announced to end their agitation.
An important meeting was held in Chandigarh under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann with representatives of employee and pensioner organizations. Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, Cabinet Minister Aman Arora and Cabinet Minister Dr. Baljeet Kaur were also present in this meeting. From the employee side, representatives of various unions including Punjab Civil Secretariat Association and Sanjha Front of Pensioners participated.
After a long conversation held in a positive atmosphere, Cabinet Minister Aman Arora informed in the joint press conference that the government considers employees as an integral part of its family. The Chief Minister seriously listened to the long pending demands of the employees and also agreed to resolve the ongoing court cases through mutual talks. It was decided in the meeting that by accepting two installments of 4-4 percent together, a total DA of 8 percent will be issued with immediate effect.
With this decision, dearness allowance of Punjab employees has directly jumped from 42 percent to 50 percent. According to the government, the financial benefits of the increased allowance will start reaching the employees with the salary for the month of September (which is to be paid in the beginning of October).
With this additional money being directly credited in the salary, there will be a huge jump in the monthly salary of the employees before Diwali and festive season. Along with this, reaching 50 percent DA also opens the way for automatic increase in other allowances and traveling expenses of the employees, due to which there will be a significant increase in the in-hand salary of the employees.
This 8 percent increase in dearness allowance will put additional financial burden on the Punjab government exchequer during the current financial year. However, the government has made it clear that protecting the interests of the employees is its top priority.
Cabinet Minister Aman Arora said that several other pending demands of the employees—such as the rules of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and the schedule of arrears payment—are also being taken positively. Another review meeting of the Chief Minister with the employee organizations has been proposed within the coming two weeks for the final resolution of these issues. This step of the government has brought a wave of happiness among lakhs of employees, secretariat personnel and retired pensioners of the state.