DA, arrears will be paid when fiscal position improves: Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu

Shimla, August 24

The government will release dearness allowance (DA) and other benefits to government employees as soon as the financial position of the state improves, said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu here today.

Delegations of various the Himachal Pradesh Non-Gazetted Employees and Teachers Associations called on the Chief Minister and apprised him of their demands. Sukhu said, “The state government will sympathetically consider all genuine demands of the employees. Regarding the demand for the release of DA and arrears, a meeting will be held within one month after reviewing the financial position of the state.”

Sukhu said that directions had been issued to all profit-making boards and corporations to release DA and arrears to their employees. He added, “The employees must work in tandem with the government to safeguard the interests of the people of the state.”

He said that the government would spend public money for their welfare and hence was making earnest efforts to enhance revenue. “The previous BJP government had freezed the payment of DA installments to the employees while we have has released 7 per cent DA to them. Besides, pensioners above the age of 75 years are being paid the entire arrears,” he added.

Sukhu said that the state government was committed to the welfare of government employees. “A sum of Rs 9,200 crore of the new pension scheme (NPS) was lying with the Central Government while Rs 10,000 crore of disaster relief approved by the Central Government was not yet released,” he added.

He said that the Congress government had inherited a liability of Rs 10,000 crore in the form of the employee arrears. He added that the Central Government had imposed restrictions on the state government following restoration of the old pension scheme (OPS) in Himachal. It had capped the loan limit at Rs 6,600 crore while the state would receive a revenue deficit grant of mere Rs 3,500 crore in the next financial year.

Technical Education Minister Rajesh Dharmani and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sanjay Awasthy were present on the occasion.