The government has given a big blow to the central employees. In fact, the Central Government told in the Lok Sabha that during the Corona epidemic, the 18-month Dearness Allowance withheld to central employees and pensioners will not be given to them.
Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chowdhary replied in writing that there is no plan to give arrears of three installments of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) to central employees and pensioners. Chowdhary said that various central government employees’ and pensioners’ associations had given several applications to the government regarding the release of 18 months’ DA and DR.
The government had banned dearness allowance to central employees and dearness relief to pensioners during the Corona period. The Union Minister of State for Finance said that the decision to stop the dearness allowance issued on January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021 was taken due to the economic disruption caused by the Corona epidemic, so that the financial burden on the government could be reduced. The government had saved an amount of Rs 34,402.32 crore through this.
Employees were demanding for a long time
According to Pankaj Chaudhary, the government had to make provision of a lot of money for welfare schemes during the epidemic period. Its effect has been seen in 2020-21 and even after that. The government clarified that at present the budget deficit is twice as compared to the provisions of the FRBM Act, so it is not proposed to give DA.
It is clear from this that crores of government employees have been shocked by this news and their hopes of getting their arrears have been dashed. The employees have been waiting for their outstanding DA amount for a long time and were demanding the government to take a quick decision on it.
There was an increase in DA in September.
Significantly, the Modi government had given a big gift to the central employees a month before Diwali. The central government had increased the dearness allowance (DA) of central employees by 4 percent. Central employees used to get 34 per cent DA, which has now increased to 38 per cent. Apart from the central government, the governments of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, UP, Karnataka, Punjab and Assam have announced an increase in the DA of their employees.
