New Delhi: More than 1 crore central government employees and pensioners waiting for good news have got a big shock. The Modi government has clearly said that the 18 months’ dearness allowance (DA) which was stopped during the Corona epidemic will not be given now. In Parliament, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said very clearly about this, due to which the hopes of lakhs of employees have been dashed.
You will remember, people were thinking that perhaps in the budget of 2025-26, which will come in February, the government will think about this pending DA arrears. Employee unions were also writing letters, hoping that maybe something will be done in the budget. But the budget came and went, and nothing happened. Now even the minister has said that brother, the money will not be given like that. Due to this, about 48 lakh government employees and 67 lakh pensioners, all are disappointed.
What is this matter of DA arrears?
In the Parliament, an MP, Anand Bhadoria ji, asked the government whether the DA/DR arrears, which were stopped during the time of Covid, will be paid or not? And if not, why will they not be paid? Will the government have any mercy on the employees?
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary gave a very straightforward answer to this. He said that the economic condition that worsened due to Corona in the whole world in 2020, and the expenses that the government made to help the people, its effect remained even after 2020-21. Therefore, it is difficult to pay the arrears of dearness allowance. Simply put, this ‘arrears’ will not be paid now. The government had saved about Rs 34,402 crore by stopping DA/DR at that time.
How much would have been paid if it had been paid?
Shivgopal Mishra ji of the National Council of JCM says that if this DA arrears were paid, then level-1 employees could have received from Rs 11,880 to Rs 37,554. And the higher level employees, level-13 or level-14, would have got from Rs. 1,44,200 to Rs. 2,18,200.
For example, if the basic salary of an employee is Rs. 18,000, then he could have got around Rs. 11,880. And those whose salary is Rs. 56,000, could have got up to Rs. 37,554. Level-13 and 14 employees would have got profits in lakhs.
(Note: These figures given are just an estimate, in reality they may be slightly higher or lower.)
