Giving a big blow to the central employees, the government has said that the 18-month dearness allowance withheld to the central employees and pensioners during the Corona epidemic will not be given to them.
Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chowdhary, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, said that there is no plan to give arrears of three installments of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) to central employees and pensioners.
Chowdhary said that various central government employees’ and pensioners’ associations had given several applications to the government regarding the release of 18 months’ DA and DR.
The government had banned dearness allowance to central employees and dearness relief to pensioners during the Corona period.
The Union Minister of State for Finance said that the decision to stop the dearness allowance issued on January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021 was taken due to the economic disruption caused by the Corona epidemic, to reduce the financial burden on the government.
The government had saved an amount of Rs 34,402.32 crore through this. The government clarified that at present the budget deficit is twice the provisions of the FRBM Act, so it is not proposed to give DA.
It is clear that crores of government employees have been shocked by this news and their hopes of getting their arrears have been dashed. The employees have been waiting for their outstanding DA amount for a long time and were demanding the government to take an early decision on it.
Fined up to Two Lakh Rupees
Due to this decision of the Center, the central employees have got a penalty of up to two lakh rupees. The DA arrears of Level-1 employees range from Rs 11,880 to Rs 37,554.
Similarly, the DA arrears of Level-13 employees range from Rs 1,23,100 to Rs 2,15,900. Level-14 employees were expected to get Rs 1,44,200 to Rs 2,18,200 as DA arrears.
