Centre hikes dearness allowance for its employees by 3% ahead of Diwali

The Centre earlier in July hiked the dearness allowance for its employees

The Centre on Thursday hiked the dearness allowance for central government employees and dearness relief for its pensioners by 3%. This takes the dearness allowance to 31%. Union minister Anurag Thakur made the announcement and said that this will benefit at least 47 lakh central government employees and 68 lakh central government pensioners.

Union minister Thakur addresses the press(YouTube/PIBIndia)

He said that the annual cost to the government will be ₹9,488 crores. “The dearness allowance has been increased from 28% to 31%. From July 1, 2021 it will be implemented and 47.14 lakh central government employees will benefit from this,” Thakur said.

The Centre earlier in July hiked the dearness allowance for its employees by 11% to 28%. The dearness allowance was earlier being paid at the rate of 17%. Central government employees are also likely to see an increase in their travel allowance, provident fund, gratuity for retirement and city allowances.

Thakur while addressing the press conference also highlighted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi helped Indians amid the pandemic by giving food grains to the poor for 15 months and increasing moratorium on loans. He said that other than extending these relief measures the Prime Minister also focused on getting every Indian citizen vaccinated against Covid-19 in a bid to curb the spread of the disease.

Anurag Thakur also said that the entire nation is celebrating the milestone of 1 billion vaccine doses being administered across the country and said that citizens of the nation are thanking PM Modi for making huge strides in the fight against the pandemic. Thakur also announced that the Union Cabinet approved the implementation of PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan.