7th Pay Commission: These states announced DA hike for employees ahead of Diwali

Punjab is the latest to join the list of states that announced the Dearness Allowance (DA) hike for government employees ahead of the festive season of Diwali.

The AAP-led Punjab government decided to give a 6 per cent dearness allowance (DA) hike to employees and pensioners, with effect from October 1 this year. The decision expected to benefit lakhs of employees and pensioners was approved by the cabinet. The central government increased dearness allowances for its employees in September.

Here is the list of states that announced DA hikes in the last few weeks.

Uttar Pradesh

The Uttar Pradesh government has increased the dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief to 38% for the state government employees and pensioners, with effect from July 1. As a Diwali gift, the state government also decided to provide a bonus of ₹6,908 to each employee for the financial year 2021-22.

Haryana

Earlier this week, the Haryana government announced a 4% hike in the dearness allowance (DA) for the state government employees who have been drawing their salary as per the 7th Pay Commission structure. The DA has been raised from the existing 34% to 38% of the basic pay with effect from July 1, 2022. The increased DA will be paid with the salary of October while the three months’ arrears from July onwards will be payable in November.

Delhi

In line with the Centre’s decision, the Delhi government issued an order to increase the dearness allowance of its employees by 4%.

Rajasthan

The Rajasthan government approved a 4% increase in dearness allowance to state employees and pensioners soon after Union government’s announcement. The latest hike took the dearness allowance for state government employees and pensioners to 38%, with effect from July 1.

Odisha

In September, the Odisha government announced a 3 per cent hike in dearness allowance for its employees and pensioners. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik approved the proposal for increasing DA from 31 per cent to 34 per cent, effective from January 1, 2022. About four lakh employees and 3.5 lakh pensioners will be benefitted from the hike.