4% DA hike for govt staff, pensioners

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Shimla March 2

The state government today announced four per cent dearness allowance (DA) for its employees, payable from April 1. The Finance Department issued the notification, raising the DA from 34 per cent to 38 per cent for all government employees. The DA hike would put an additional burden of Rs 580 crore every year on the state exchequer. There are 1.80 lakh government employees and 1.25 lakh pensioners in the state.

The enhanced DA was due since July 2022 and there was no mention of the pending arrears of the past 19 months in the notification issued by Principal Secretary (Finance) Devesh Kumar. The DA order would be applicable to all officers of All-India services, Himachal Pradesh Judicial officers and state government employees.

The Principal Secretary (Finance) also issued an order for the speedy implementation of announcements made by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in the Budget recently. The respective departments should implement the announcements after obtaining the Chief Minister’s approval through the minister in-charge.