The Finance Ministry has lastly introduced smiles to the faces of central government staff because it had assured them of three pending installments of Dearness Allowances (DA) that will be restored prospectively as and when the choice is taken.
This has come as an indication of reduction for central government staff and pensioners because the Ministry had additional added that the pending instalments of dearness allowance for the stated staff will be “subsumed in the cumulative revised rates effective from 1 July, 2021.”
In a written reply, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur instructed the Rajya Sabha that the Centre had retained greater than Rs 35,430.08 crore by freezing the three installments of DA. This had helped in coping with the COVID-19 outbreak within the nation in 2020.
“The three installments of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief to central government employees and pensioners due from 1.1.2020, 1.7.2020 and 1.1.2021 was frozen in view of the coronavirus pandemic,” the Finance Ministry said.
Presently, the central staff get DA of 17% and in 2020, the Union Cabinet had accepted a 4% improve in DA for government staff and pensioners to 21%. This was to be efficient from January 1, 2021.
However, the finance ministry had in April 2020 determined to placed on maintain increment in dearness allowance (DA) for 50 lakh central government staff and 61 lakh pensioners until July 2021 because of the COVID-19 disaster.