Centre withholding 18 months DA of its employees: TMC ‘BJP4India-led Central Govt has TURNED A DEAF EAR towards issues faced by Central Govt employees’

MP, 15 Mar 2023 : ‘BJP4India-led Central Govt has TURNED A DEAF EAR towards issues faced by Central Govt employees’ At a time when a section of protesting state government employees are demanding parity in Dearness Allowance (DA) with that of the Central government employees, Trinamool Congress (TMC) has pointed out that the Central government has informed the Parliament that it has not released 18 months of DA arrears to its employees. 

TMC took to its Twitter handle and wrote: “@BJP4India-led Central Govt has TURNED A DEAF EAR towards issues faced by Central Govt employees! DA Arrears for 18 months are being withheld. 

Govt has NO CLARITY as to when the arrears will be released. Would @BJP4Bengal care to comment now on PM MOdi’s exemplary governance?” A question was raised by Mizoram MP C Lalrosanga whether the Central government has any plans to release 18 months of DA arrears, stopped during the Covid pandemic to Central government employees and pensioners shortly. 

The MP sought details on the matter, including the time by which the government is likely to release the arrears. He also wanted to know the reason for the delay in clearing the arrears and the total amount of funds required for the disbursement of the DA arrears to Central government employees and pensioners. In reply to the question, Pankaj Chaudhary, minister of state in the Ministry of Finance, informed the Parliament that the decision to freeze three instalments of DA/DR to Central government employees/pensioners are due from January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021 was taken in the context of Covid which caused economic disruption, to ease pressure on government finances. The minister added: “As the adverse financial impact of the pandemic in 2020 and the financing of welfare measures taken by the government had a fiscal spillover beyond FY 2020-21, arrears of DA/DR which mostly pertain to the difficult FY of 2020-21 arrears of DA/DR which mostly pertain to the difficult FY of 2020-21 are not considered feasible. 

Even now the fiscal deficit of the government is running at more than double the level envisaged in the FRBM Act.” 

Replying to the question about the total amount of funds required, the minister did not give a direct answer but instead said that Rs 34402.32 crore had been “saved and utilised to tide over the economic impact of Covid pandemic on account of freezing of three instalments of DA/DR payable to central government employees and pensioners.” https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/centre-withholding-18-months-da-of-its-employees-tmc-511797