After DA increase, 11 years’ worth of DR arrears will now be available, Mamta government released bumper fund

The West Bengal government has created a stir in the financial circles by giving a double big gift to lakhs of elderly government pensioners and family pensioners of the state. After recently making a huge increase in Dearness Allowance (DA), now the state administration has taken another historic welfare step. The government has officially announced that 50 per cent of the Dearness Relief (DR) arrears pending for the last 11 years will be provided immediately as interim relief to all eligible beneficiaries receiving pension through banks in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area. This big decision of the government has brought a wave of happiness on the faces of those senior citizens who were waiting for their hard-earned money stuck in administrative files for years. The hassle of records verification is over, 50 percent of the interim amount will be transferred directly to the bank accounts. A very sensitive and practical thinking is working behind this revolutionary decision of the state government. In fact, the old pension payment records were not fully certified with many concerned commercial banks, due to which the payment of arrears of the elderly was technically stuck for the last several years. Government managers have made it clear that senior citizens of the state cannot be deprived of their financial relief merely because of technical glitches and long time taken in record verification. Therefore, the State Finance Department has found a middle path and implemented an interim arrangement, under which half of the total estimated arrears will be credited directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries without any delay and the remaining 50 per cent amount will be paid in a phased manner after complete verification of records. Big money will be available from the year 2008 to 2019, accurate calculation will be done from ROPA and AICPI formula. According to the latest notification officially released by the Finance Department, this bumper financial package will be paid on the basis of long-term accumulated arrears (Estimated DR Arrears) from 1 April 2008 to 31 December 2019. To accurately calculate this huge arrear amount, authentic documents available with the Accountant General (AG), West Bengal, official DR rates declared under the erstwhile ROPA 2009 and established formula linked to All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI) have been made. Through this transparent financial calculation, it is being ensured that every pensioner gets the exact and equitable amount paid as per his/her entitlement. Bank Pension Management Portal launched under WBiFMS, instructions to banks to update data on war footing To make this entire complex payment process transparent, secure and corruption free, the West Bengal government has used its modern digital infrastructure. The government has made live a special ‘Bank Pension Management Portal’ under ‘West Bengal Integrated Financial Management System’ (WBiFMS). The State Government has issued strict diplomatic instructions to all concerned public and private sector banks to immediately verify the complete data of pensioners registered with their respective banks on this central portal. Banks have been asked to update the history of old pension payments on a war footing so that as the data verification work progresses, the timeline and payment process for the outstanding financial relief balance can be announced separately. Second big relief for pensioners after 20% DA hike, got support from the Sixth Pay Commission. It is noteworthy that the West Bengal government had recently announced a huge lump sum increase of 20 percent in Dearness Allowance (DA) for its state employees and pensioners from October 1, due to which the DA gap of state and central government employees has narrowed to a great extent. However, while on one hand the murmur of implementing the 8th Pay Commission has intensified in the Central Government, on the other hand the employees of West Bengal are currently receiving salaries and allowances under the framework of the 5th and 6th Pay Commission. In such a situation, this prompt payment of 50 percent of DR arrears for a long period of 11 years is being seen as a huge lifeline and a big relief for the elderly pensioners of the state in this era of inflation.