Government puts dearness allowance hike on hold

The government has put on hold increments in dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) for central government employees and pensioners, in the wake of crisis arising due to Covid 19 outbreak.

In an office memorandum dated April 23, the finance ministry announced that additional instalment that was due from January 1, 2020, and those from July 1, 2020 till January 1, 2021 will not be paid.

However, DA and DR at the current rates will continue to be paid. The Union Cabinet had approved an increase of 4% in DA, taking it to 21%, in March. But, with this decision, Central government employees and pensioners will now continue to receive DA at 17%.

"As and when the decision to release the future instalment of DA and DR due from 1st July 2021 is taken by the government, the rates of Dearness allowance and Dearness relief effective from 1st January 2020, 1st July 2020 and 1st January 2021 will be restored prospectively and will be subsumed in the cumulative revised rate effective from July 1, 2021,” the memorandum added.

The memorandum further stated that no arrears will be paid for the period from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021.