7th Pay Commission: The Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers has written a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over non-declaration of dearness allowance (DA) for serving government employees and dearness relief (DR) for pensioners. DA and DR are due from July 1, 2024, as the Centre hikes the allowance twice in a year, effective from January 1 and July 1, respectively.
The confederation’s Secretary General, S B Yadav, in his letter to the minister pointed out that the 2nd DA hike is normally announced in the last week of September and the salaries and pensions come with arrears of three months (July-September) in the first week of October every year.
“I would like to draw your kind attention towards non declaration of the due installment of DA/ DR w.e.f. from 01-07-2024, normally it used to be declared in the last week of September and three months arrears paid in first week of October,” the letter dated September 30 said.
The confederation conveyed to the government that there is severe discontent among employees and pensioners due to the delay in the announcement of DA/DR.
It also drew the government’s attention towards performance-linked bonus and adhoc bonus, applicable to different sections of government employees, to be paid around Durga Puja festival.
Confederation seeks employees’ bonus ahead of Durga Puja festival
“Durga Puja festival is approaching and the PLB and Adhoc Bonus too, are to be declared,” it said.
“The confederation seeks your immediate intervention in the above matter and request you to kindly cause the declaration/issuance of DA/DR order’s and the bonus order’s, timely,” the letter said.
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DA hike expected to be 3% for July-December 2024
The DA hike is calculated on the basis of All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI), which tracks the change in retail prices across various sectors. Based on the calculation, the government is expected to hike the DA/DR for employees and pensioners by 3% this time. DA is a salary component that features on serving employees’ salary slip, while dearness relief is given to pensioners.
Currently, DA stands at 50% of the employees’ basic salary, after a 4% increase in January this year. As a result of DA touching the 50% of basic level, several other allowances were also revised with hikes up to 25%.