New Delhi, Jul 14 (Bureau) The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the increase in the Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief to pensioners from 11 per cent to 28 per cent of the basic pay or pension with effect from July 1. The announcement comes as a relief to the government employees as the government had announced a four per cent increase in DA and DR in the last year’s budget but was unable to implement it due to the Covid pandemic.
The increase in the DA and DR is expected to cost the government approximately Rs 34,400 crore and impact around 48,34,000 central government employees and 65,26,000 pensioners, Anurag Thakur, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting said in a press briefing. The DA and DR installments are due for four periods–January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020, January 1, 2021, and July 1, 2021. “The rate of dearness allowance and dearness relief for the period 1st Jan 2020 to 30 Jun 2021 shall remain 17 per cent,” Mr Thakur said.