The Punjab government has approved a 40 percentage point increase in dearness allowance (DA) for 6,507 computer teachers working under the Punjab Information and Communication Technology Education Society (PICTES), taking their DA rate from 181% to 221%.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced the decision, saying the move was aimed at providing financial relief to computer teachers.
The announcement comes days after the state government approved a separate 3 percentage point DA hike for its government employees and pensioners.
The latest decision for computer teachers increases their DA rate by 40 percentage points. This is different from the 3 percentage point increase announced for the broader category of state government employees and pensioners.
Punjab government had announced 3% DA hike earlier
On November 4, the Punjab government announced a 3 percentage point increase in DA for around 8 lakh government employees and pensioners, taking the rate from 50% to 53%.
The enhanced DA will be paid along with the November salary and pension, with the payment scheduled for December, Mann had said.
With this announcement, the state government has increased DA by a cumulative 11 percentage points this year. It had earlier announced two instalments of 4 percentage points each, taking the DA rate from 42% to 50%, followed by the latest increase to 53%.
The annual financial liability arising from these DA increases has been estimated at ₹3,988 crore.
Punjab’s pending DA arrears stand at ₹22,818 crore
The DA announcements come amid a substantial backlog of pending dearness allowance and dearness relief (DR) payments to government employees and pensioners.
According to figures submitted by the Punjab government to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, outstanding DA and DR arrears stood at ₹22,818 crore. The state’s total pending financial liability towards employees and pensioners, including other claims, was estimated at ₹32,418 crore.
The state government has also estimated that matching the Centre’s DA rates would result in an additional annual financial burden of ₹4,712 crore.
Clearing pending dues would entail further costs, including 6% annual interest on the arrears. The matter is pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Punjab regularises services of 1,007 employees
Alongside the DA increase for computer teachers, the state government has regularised the services of 1,007 non-teaching employees working under the Samagra Shiksha programme.
The government has also decided to extend salary-related benefits to these employees, providing them with greater employment stability and financial security, Mann said.
-With PTI inputs