The Punjab government has announced a 3% hike in dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali, taking the total DA rate to 53% from the existing 50%.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced the decision on Wednesday, November 4, saying it would benefit around 8 lakh government employees and pensioners across the state.
“I am giving a Diwali gift to 8 lakh employees and pensioners. They will get an instalment of 3 per cent DA. They are the backbone of the government. This is good news for them,” Mann said while addressing the media.
The enhanced DA will be paid along with November’s salary and pension, with the payment scheduled for December, Mann said.
Punjab government increases DA by 11 percentage points this year
With Wednesday’s announcement, the Punjab government has increased DA by a total of 11 percentage points this year.
The government had earlier announced two instalments of 4 percentage points each, taking the DA rate from 42% to 50%. The latest 3 percentage point increase will take it to 53%.
Mann said the DA rate had increased from 28% when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government came to power in 2022 to 53% now.
The total annual financial liability arising from the DA increases announced this year is estimated at ₹3,988 crore.
Punjab’s outstanding DA arrears stand at ₹22,818 crore
The latest DA hike comes amid a substantial backlog of pending dearness allowance and dearness relief (DR) arrears payable to government employees and pensioners.
Punjab’s outstanding DA and DR arrears stood at ₹22,818 crore, according to figures submitted by the state government to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The state’s total pending financial liability towards employees and pensioners, including other claims, has been estimated at ₹32,418 crore.
The state government has also estimated that matching the Centre’s DA rates would impose an additional annual burden of ₹4,712 crore on the state exchequer. The financial implications of clearing the pending dues would be higher, as the government would also have to pay 6% annual interest on the arrears.
The issue of non-payment of DA arrears is pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The court has sought responses from the state government in the matter, with further proceedings scheduled for November.
Meanwhile, Mann said the state government had provided 71,777 government jobs on a merit basis. He added that the government remained open to discussions on employees’ demands.