DA Hike: Dearness allowance of Chandigarh administration employees hiked, check new rate

New Delhi: In good news, workers employed with the Chandigarh administration will now receive an increased dearness allowance (DA). Employees of the Chandigarh administration will now receive DA at 34% of their basic salaries, up from the 31%. The hike has been implemented retrospectively from January 2022, meaning that eligible employees are likely to receive arrears for months from January to April 2022 with their upcoming pay cheque. The DA hike announcement comes after the Central government had increased the dearness allowance of its employees by 3%, from 31% to 34%, in the month of March 2022. 

"The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the release of an additional instalment of dearness allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. January 1, 2022, representing a 3% increase over the existing rate of 31% of basic pay/pension, to compensate for price rises," the Prime Minister's Office had said in a statement.

The recent hikes in the DA of government employees come after a freeze on allowance hikes owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the time the government lifted the DA hikes in July 2021, the dearness allowance and dearness reliefs have been revised three times. Both the allowances have nearly doubled in the past few months. 

For the unversed, due to the extraordinary financial stress created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Central government had set aside three increments of DA and DR for January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021. Also Read: PAN card scams on the rise: Here's how to remain safe

In a written response to a question asked in the Rajya Sabha in August 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman revealed that withholding DA and DR saved roughly Rs 34,402 crore. Also Read: LIC IPO: Govt’s treasure chest richer by Rs 20,557 crore after diluting 3.5% stake with the mega-offer