A big announcement has been made for the employees of the West Bengal state government. West Bengal Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya has proposed to increase DA or Dearness Allowance in the state budget.
The Dearness Allowance of government employees is being increased by 4 percent. The increased DA will be effective from April 1, 2025.
A large section of state government employees had been repeatedly protesting over dearness allowance. Protests had been going on on the streets for a long time. Economic analysts were speculating that DA would be increased in the last budget before the 2026 assembly elections. However, Mamata Banerjee’s government proposed to increase DA in the budget on Wednesday itself.
The Mamata Banerjee government of West Bengal presented the state budget in the assembly on Wednesday. Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya announced a 4% hike in dearness allowance (DA) for government employees during the budget speech. Along with this, it has been announced to provide mobile phones to Anganwadi and ASHA workers. With the increased DA, the employees will now get a total of 18% dearness allowance, which will be effective from April 1, 2024. However, the opposition BJP opposed the budget and walked out of the assembly proceedings, alleging a lack of new employment opportunities in it.
These big announcements were made in the budget for 2024-25.
Under the Bengal Housing Scheme Bangalore Bari Project, 16 lakh houses will be built in the next financial year. For this, an additional budgetary allocation of Rs 9,600 crore was made, taking the total amount to Rs 23,000 crore.
Road and bridge construction
An additional amount of Rs 1,500 crore was allocated under the Pathashree project. Rs 500 crore was provided for the Gangasagar Bridge (4.75 km long).
Employment and Water Management
Under the River Interconnection Project, a plan has been made to increase employment opportunities by connecting various rivers and water sources, for which Rs 200 crore has been provided. It was decided to prepare a master plan to prevent river erosion, for which a budget of Rs 200 crore has been kept.
Scheme for Anganwadi and ASHA workers
Mobile phones will be given to all workers from the budget of Rs 200 crore. Last full budget before the 2026 elections. This budget is the last full budget of the Mamata Banerjee government before the assembly elections to be held in 2026.
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