Chandigarh: The Punjab government has agreed to increase the dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees from 42% to 50%, with the revised rate coming into effect from October 1.
The decision was reached during a meeting between Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and leaders of the Joint Coordination Committee at the chief minister’s residence on Thursday. Cabinet minister Aman Arora and representatives of the employee body later announced the decisions at a joint press conference.
Under the agreement, the DA for September salary will be paid along with the October salary in two instalments. The government will provide an additional eight percentage points of DA, while employees had been demanding a hike to 60%.
Arora said the eight-percentage-point increase would put an additional financial burden of around ₹250 crore on the state government.
Remaining demands to be discussed
Employee leaders said their other demands were also discussed during the meeting. Chief Minister Mann assured them that these issues would be taken up separately.
Joint Coordination Committee chief convener Gurnam Singh Virk and member Satish Rana said the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and that the government had agreed to provide the eight-percentage-point increase in two instalments of four percentage points each.
The employee representatives said the DA issue is also pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court and that they had faith in the judicial process.
A second round of talks between the government and employee representatives is expected in the first week of October, when the remaining demands will be discussed.
The agreement follows around three weeks of employee protests over DA arrears and other demands. Following Thursday’s meeting, government representatives and employee leaders exchanged sweets to mark the agreement.