Good news for Central government employees! Three pending DA installments will be paid soon

The Finance Ministry has finally brought smiles to the faces of central government employees as it had assured them of three pending installments of Dearness Allowances (DA)  that will be restored prospectively as and when the decision is taken.

This has come as a sign of relief for central government employees and pensioners as the Ministry had further added that the pending instalments of dearness allowance for the said employees will be "subsumed in the cumulative revised rates effective from 1 July, 2021."

In a written reply, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur told the Rajya Sabha that the Centre had retained more than Rs 35,430.08 crore by freezing the three installments of DA. This had helped in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak in the country in 2020.

"The three installments of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief to central government employees and pensioners due from 1.1.2020, 1.7.2020 and 1.1.2021 was frozen in view of the coronavirus pandemic," the Finance Ministry stated.

Presently, the central employees get DA of 17% and in 2020, the Union Cabinet had approved a 4% increase in DA for government employees and pensioners to 21%. This was to be effective from January 1, 2021.

However, the finance ministry had in April 2020 decided to put on hold increment in dearness allowance (DA) for 50 lakh central government employees and 61 lakh pensioners till July 2021 due to the COVID-19 crisis.