CM hikes DA with call to Centre to pay - Allowance increased by 7%; Delhi asked to shoulder states’ burden whenever it raises amount

TT, Calcutta, Jan. 9: Mamata Banerjee today announced a hike of 7 per cent in dearness allowance for Bengal government employees and demanded that the Centre pay a matching amount to the states whenever it increases the DA for its staff.

From January, Bengal government employees will get 58 per cent of their basic and grade pay as DA.

“In keeping with the tradition of declaring the allowance in January, I am announcing a 7 per cent (hike in) DA for our employees. Although this will put an additional burden of Rs 2,100 crore a year on the state exchequer, we are trying to keep our promise despite several financial constraints,” the chief minister said.

With the increase, the difference between the DA of central and state government employees has come down to 42 per cent.

Mamata tried to shift the responsibility of increasing the DA to the Centre, attributing political motive to the release of the amount.

“The Centre announces DA instalments before elections. Henceforth, we want the Centre to pay a matching amount to states whenever it releases DA instalments. We have sent a letter to the Centre to this effect. We are facing a financial crunch because we need to shell out Rs 28,000 crore every year to repay loans,” the chief minister said.

Senior state government officials, however, said hiking the DA had nothing to do with elections. “The Centre hikes DA twice every year — in January and July. There is no link between the DA and polls. The chief minister knows fully well that there is no provision allowing the Centre to assist state governments in paying DA. She made the demand only to shift focus from her failure to increase the DA regularly,” an official said.

The difference between central and state DA increased after the change of guard in Bengal.

“Usually, after the Centre declares a raise in the DA, the state governments follows it with a grant for its own employees. When Trinamul came to power in 2011, Bengal government employees were getting 12 per cent less DA than their central counterparts. The difference climbed to 49 per cent as the Trinamul government announced DA hikes only once a year,” another Nabanna official said.

Sources said the chief minister “hurriedly” announced the 7 per cent hike today, sensing resentment among state government employees.

“In the past three years, the chief minister had declared DA hikes in December. There was no announcement this December. There was discontent after the education minister (Partha Chatterjee) said a couple of days ago that the government would not be able to increase the DA this year,” an official said.

Senior officials said Mamata did not want to anger government employees further at a time elections to around 100 civic bodies were scheduled to be held in the next few months. “State government employees will be involved in the poll process,” an official said.

Another official said the cash-strapped government would have to pay Rs 175 crore a month to give the DA to its employees.

The Telegraph recently reported how the finance department was holding onto Rs 755 crore sent by Delhi for the 100 days’ rural job scheme to show that Bengal’s finances were healthy.

“The situation has not changed much…. Political compulsions forced the ruling establishment to declare the DA hike,” a finance department official said.