In a big move ahead of the festive season, the Shinde-Fadnavis government on Tuesday announced a 3% rise in the dearness allowance (DA) payable to nearly 17 lakh government employees in Maharashtra. ‘’The decision to increase dearness allowance for state government employees by 3 percent on the lines of central government was taken in the cabinet meeting held today,’’ said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde who was accompanied by deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
‘’This increase will be paid in cash from August 2022. Due to today’s cabinet decision, the dearness allowance of state government employees will be increased from 31 to 34 per cent,’’ said Shinde.
The state government’s annual outgo towards salaries was Rs 1,12,062 crore in 2021-22 which is expected to increase to Rs 1,31,986 crore in 2022-23. The government had spent Rs 38,027 crore on pensions in 2021-22 which will go up to Rs 45,512 crore next year.
Shinde’s announcement came shortly after the Chhattisgarh government announced a 6% hike in the DA of state government employees. Now, the DA has been raised to 28%. Gujarat announced a 3 per cent increase in the DA for the state government employees under the 7th Pay Commission. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said that this hike would apply with retrospective effect from January 1, 2022.
Further, Tamil Nadu announced a 3 per cent hike in Dearness Allowances (DA), from 31 per cent to 34 per cent, for government employees and pensioners. Tripura government cleared a proposal for a 5 per cent hike in dearness allowance for state government employees and pensioners with effect from July 1.
The Madhya Pradesh government also announced a hike of 3 per cent in the Dearness Allowance (DA) for over 7.5 lakh government employees in the state, taking it to 34 per cent. The Uttarakhand government last week increased the dearness allowance (DA) of employees of corporations and local bodies by 3 per cent with effect from January 1, 2022.
Meanwhile, Shinde also announced a free travel for senior citizens who completed 75 years of their age in the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation buses. Furthermore, the government would provide an insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh to the Govinda squads. Shinde said that the government will pay the premium of the insurance cover.
