In a bumper news for lakhs of railway employees across the country, the central government has increased their dearness allowance along with the release of arrears, under the Sixth Pay Commission. The allowance has been increased by 14 per cent, according to an official notification.
“The rate of DA admissible to railway employees of above category shall be enhanced from the existing rate of 189 per cent to 196 per cent with effect from July 1, 2021, and from 196 per cent to 203 per cent with effect from January 1, 2022,” the Ministry of Railways said in the notification last week.
The Railway Board has announced the DA hike in two parts of 7 per cent each and will be applicable for those employees who are working under the 6th Pay Commission. The allowance has been increased by 7 percentage points from 196 per cent that the employees are getting currently to 203 per cent. The new DA will be effective July 1, 2021. Also, effective January 1, 2022, another 7 per cent hike has been announced, which will make the overall DA hike from January 1 at 14 per cent.
Recently, dearness relief for certain categories of government employees has increased from 368 per cent to 381 per cent of the basic ex-gratia. This is for surviving CPF beneficiaries who retired from service between November 18, 1960, and December 31, 1985, according to an office memorandum by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
As per reports few days ago, the central government made it clear that general DA arrears withheld from January 2020 to June 2021 will not be released as of now. The central government had held back three instalments of DA and DR for January 1, 2020; July 1, 2020; and January 1, 2021, in view of the unprecedented situation which arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dearness allowance is given to government employees, while the dearness relief is for pensioners.
In March, the Union Cabinet had approved to increase 3 per cent in dearness allowance (DA) under the 7th Pay Commission, thus taking the DA to 34 per cent of the basic income. Over 50 lakh government employees and 65 lakh pensioners are getting profit from this move.
“The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval to release an additional instalment of dearness allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. January 1, 2022, representing an increase of 3 per cent over the existing rate of 31 per cent of the basic pay/ pension, to compensate for price rise,” said the Prime Minister’s Office in a statement.
The government recently hiked the DA and DR. Since July 2021 when the freeze was lifted, DA and DR have seen three hikes and have almost doubled.
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