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Banerjee announces additional 4% DA for state employees, BJP calls it leftovers
he announcement came a day after Banerjee met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi to discuss non-payment of the Centre’s share for various social welfare schemes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)
West Bengal government employees and pensioners will get an additional 4% dearness allowance (DA) with effect from January 1, chief Mamata Banerjee announced on Thursday with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling it a sop before the Lok Sabha polls.
With this, the state employees will get 10% of their basic salary as DA, as against 46% currently given by the Centre and a few other states.
“Although the Centre has stopped payment of Rs.1,15,0000 crore on various accounts, we have decided to give 4% more DA to 1.4 million state government employees, teachers and non-teaching staff with effect from January 1. You may see this as a New Year’s gift. Pensioners will also get it,” Banerjee said on Thursday evening while inaugurating the Christmas carnival at Kolkata’s Park Street.
“The state will have to spend Rs.2,400 crore for paying this additional 4%,” Banerjee said.
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The announcement came a day after Banerjee met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi to discuss non-payment of the Centre’s share for various social welfare schemes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). These were suspended following allegations of mismanagement and corruption.
The announcement came as a surprise as in March Banerjee had told the Assembly that the state could not give more DA because of a “cash crunch”.
On February 15, state finance minister (independent charge) Chandrima Bhattacharya announced while presenting the 2023-24 budget in the Assembly that the government will pay 3% additional DA from March. Till then, the state has been giving only 3% of basic salary as DA.
Thursday’s announcement came at a time when a large section of state employees is demanding DA at the same rate of 46% given by the Centre.
Various organisations of state employees and school and college teachers have been carrying out agitations since January over the issue.
While Pratap Nayek, convenor of one of the organisations that supports Trinamool Congress (TMC), welcomed Banerjee’s announcement, Moloy Mukherjee, general secretary of the Confederation of West Bengal Government Employees, said DA cannot be announced in this manner.
“DA is based on price index. One cannot announce a hike in DA in this manner. Even after the hike, Banerjee will be giving 36% less DA than the Centre. We will plan a bigger agitation in the coming days,” Mukherjee told the media.
Samik Bhattacharya, chief spokesperson of the Bengal BJP, said, “The chief minister offered a lollypop with her eyes on the Lok Sabha polls. In reality, she offered leftover food. State employees will get 46% DA only after there is a change in government.”
TMC state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar countered the critics.
“These people are so vocal with her demands. Why do they remain silent when the Centre virtually carries out an economic blockade against Bengal?” said Majumdar.
