Himachal: CM Sukhu announces 4% DA to employees, pensioners

It will benefit 1.80 lakh employees and 1.70 lakh pensioners of the state while bearing an extra burden of ₹600 crore per year on the state exchequer

Himachal chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday announced 4% Dearness Allowance (DA) for the employees and pensioners of the state from January 1, 2023.

Himachal CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu addressing a press conference in Shimla on Friday. (Deepak Sansta/HT)

It will benefit 1.80 lakh employees and 1.70 lakh pensioners of the state while bearing an extra burden of ₹600 crore per year on the state exchequer.

While addressing the media, the chief minister announced that the employees and pensioners will receive their November salary and pension before Diwali---on October 28.

CM Sukhu also announced to clear all the pending medical bills of employees and retirees for which a provision of ₹10 crores has already been made and directed the concerned departments to clear all the pending bills of this month and adequate budget will be provided to the departments for this as per their demand.

He announced to pay the entire amount of pending arrears to all the pensioners above 75 years of age (when). Sukhu said that a total of ₹202 crore would be spent in this financial year over the salary and pension arrears. He also announced that an additional instalment of arrear amounting to ₹20,000for Class 4 employees will be released to them in this fiscal year itself.

Himachal Pradesh will be self-reliant by 2027 and there was no such financial crunch as being propagated in the media by the national and the state BJP leaders, said the CM.

While taking a jibe at the leader of Opposition for spreading lies about the financial status of the state and even misleading the Prime Minister and BJPs national president, Sukhu said, “BJP has left no stone unturned in spreading misinformation about the state’s fiscal health. The payment of due amount of the employees, including DA and arrears, are the testimony to the fact that the state government was committed to address the grievances of its employees and there was no such financial crunch as of now.”