7th Pay Commission: The Minister of State for Finance, while clarifying on behalf of the government in this whole matter, said that the decision not to give the dearness allowance issued on January 2020, July 2020 and January 1, 2021 has been taken due to the economic loss caused by the Corona epidemic.
During the outbreak of the Corona epidemic, a big update has come regarding the withheld DA Arrears of central employees. Giving them a big blow, the government clearly said that their 18 months’ outstanding DA arrears will not be given to the employees and pensioners.
There is no plan to pay the outstanding DA
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary categorically refused to give the outstanding DA in response to a question during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha. He also made it clear that the government has no plans to pay dearness allowance and three installments of dearness relief to central employees and pensioners for these 18 months in the future as well.
Minister of State for Finance told this reason
Giving clarification on behalf of the government in this whole matter, the Minister of State for Finance said that the decision not to give dearness allowance issued on January 2020, July 2020 and January 1, 2021 has been taken due to the economic loss caused by the Corona epidemic.
With this decision, the government has saved an amount of Rs 34,402.32 crore in the government treasury. He said that the government’s decision not to give DA dues has helped a lot in reducing the financial loss caused during the pandemic.
According to Pankaj Chowdhary, during the pandemic, the government had to make provision of a lot of money for welfare schemes. Its effect has been seen in 2020-21 and even after that. In such a situation, the arrears of dearness allowance due to central employees is for 2020-21, which was not considered appropriate to be given. Still the financial deficit of the government is twice the level fixed under the FRBM Act.
Blow to the hopes of the employees
Central employees (Government Employees) have DA pending from January 2020 to June 2021. The government had put DA of the employees on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. When all the restrictions imposed during the Corona epidemic were removed, the employees were expected to get back their outstanding DA amount.
The employees have been waiting for their due DA amount for a long time and were demanding the government to take a quick decision on it. Now the finance minister has bluntly cleared the government’s stand regarding DA arrears and has dashed the hopes of the central employees.
DA Hike was received in September 2022
Dearness Allowance (DA) is a part of the salary structure of government employees. The government gives it to public sector employees as well as pensioners. The DA of central employees is changed every six months. Last year in September 2022, the Modi government had given 4% DA Hike to the employees. After this increase, the dearness allowance of the employees had increased from 34 per cent to 38 per cent.
After the DA Hike, it was expected that the government would soon agree on the payment of the outstanding DA withheld during the Corona period and a lump sum amount would come into their account. The government’s decision to refuse to give the outstanding DA has shocked 50 lakh central employees and 65 lakh pensioners.
