Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government halted the increase in dearness allowance (DA) from January 2020 to June 2021. Citing economic pressure, the government withheld three installments of DA and DR for employees and pensioners.
Add informalnewz.com as a Preferred Source
8th Pay Commission: With the formation of the 8th Pay Commission, central employees are now awaiting its recommendations. The recommendations of this Pay Commission will be implemented within the next one and a half years. Prior to this, various organizations of central employees are making various demands. One such demand concerns the long-pending 18-month dearness allowance (DA) arrears.
What’s the matter?
Actually, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government halted the increase in dearness allowance from January 2020 to June 2021. Citing economic pressure, the government withheld three installments of DA and DR payments to employees and pensioners. Arrears for these 18 months remain pending. Employee organizations are continuously demanding that the government pay this outstanding amount.
What is the government’s position?
The central government has consistently stated in the House that it has no intention of paying the 18 months’ arrears of DA. The House was asked whether the decision to withhold 18 months’ dearness allowance and dearness relief for central government employees and pensioners during COVID-19 was taken to mitigate the economic disruption and pressure on government finances.
In response, the Ministry of Finance had stated, “The decision to withhold three installments of Dearness Allowance (DA)/Dearness Relief (DR) payable to Central Government employees/pensioners from January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021 was taken in the context of the economic disruption caused by COVID-19, in order to mitigate the pressure on government finances. The adverse financial impact of the pandemic in 2020 and the financial burden of funding the welfare measures taken by the government extended beyond the financial year 2020-21. Therefore, it was not considered feasible to release the arrears of Dearness Allowance.”
Employee unions’ argument?
Employee unions argue that this amount is employees’ right and that withholding it is not appropriate. Several organizations have demanded that the government pay 18 months’ DA arrears at the same time as the 8th Pay Commission is implemented. They say this will provide financial relief to employees and increase trust in the government. Currently, approximately 4.8 million central government employees and approximately 6.5 million pensioners are awaiting this decision. If all goes well, the Pay Commission’s recommendations will be implemented in the first half of 2027.
Read More: Big News: Central government may cancel the deal to sell this bank, know the big reason
