Despite the 4% hike in Dearness Allowance sanctioned in August 2022 by the Central government, state employees in Gujarat remain bereft of the privilege. Finally, with the patient wait having borne no result, the Gujarat State Employees Mahamandal recently dispatched a letter to the state finance minister Kanu Desai, seeking implementation of the same with post-dated effect.
In fact, CM Bhupendra Patel on Independence Day, announced a three per cent increase in the DA for Gujarat government employees under the 7th Pay Commission. Patel said that this hike would apply with retrospective effect from 1 January, 2022.
Thereon, ahead of the Diwali festival and Assembly elections in Gujarat, the Union Cabinet raised the dearness allowance (DA) by four percentage points to 38% for 4.77 million Central government employees along with a similar increase in the dearness relief (DR) for 6.86 million pensioners.
The letter, written by Geetaba Chauhan, president, Gujarat State Employees’ Union, questions the lapse while reminding the state government that it has “accepted in principle to apply Pay Commission and other benefits to the state government officers/employees on the basis of Central government’s directives.”
Speaking to Vibes Of India, Chauhan added: “There is no reason to the delay, neither do we perceive one. The state government must be accountable and must implement the revised salary with post-dated effect.”
The decision to raise DA was taken in light of surging prices of essential commodities, especially during the festive season, two officials said requesting anonymity. The headline inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose from 6.71 % in July 22 to 7% in August, mainly due to an increase in food and fuel prices. Inflation is persisting above the RBI’s upper tolerance limit of 6%, which called for some relief to the government employees, one of them said.
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