Employees waiting for DA arrears were disappointed, government said – ‘The treasury is empty’

New Delhi: Once again there is disappointing news for lakhs of central government employees and pensioners. There was a discussion for a long time whether the government will pay the outstanding installments of 18 months of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) that were withheld during the Covid period? But now the latest stance of the Finance Ministry has given a big blow to these hopes. The government has made it clear that at present there is no intention to release this arrears.

The cry of Corona period and economic pressure

The Finance Ministry has stated in its recent clarification that there was unprecedented pressure on the country’s economy during the pandemic. The government’s priority during that crisis was to strengthen health services and spend on relief schemes. To maintain this financial balance, a difficult decision was taken to stop the three installments of DA/DR to be implemented from January 2020, July 2020 and January 2021. The government believes that the economic burden of that time is still being felt on the treasury.

Employees remained empty handed despite continuous demand

For the last several years, various employee organizations and pensioners’ forums have been demanding this right from the government. Many demonstrations were held, memorandums were submitted and legal avenues were also explored. Employees argue that this is their right in times of inflation. However, the government has put this demand on hold every time citing the country’s financial conditions and fiscal deficit.

Even Supreme Court’s arguments did not work

Recently, an employee organization had requested for release of arrears citing old decisions of the Supreme Court. Responding to this, the Finance Ministry clarified that the economic impact of the pandemic was not limited to just one year, but its impact remained in the form of fiscal pressure for a long time. According to the government, it is not practically possible to pay this arrears worth crores of rupees in the current circumstances. After this decision, there is an atmosphere of despair in lakhs of families.