State employees warn Bengal government of bigger protests after central DA hike

 Employees said after Wednesday's hike, they would get 40 per cent less DA compared to their central counterparts. With the increase of 4 per cent DA, the central government employees would get 46 per cent DA. The state government employees have been getting only 6 per cent DA

TT Special Correspondent, Calcutta, 19.10.23 : Bengal government employees were up in arms against the state administration on Wednesday after the Narendra Modi dispensation announced another 4 per cent dearness allowance (DA) for the central government staff.

The state employees said after Wednesday's hike, they would get 40 per cent less DA compared to their central counterparts. With the increase of 4 per cent DA, the central government employees would get 46 per cent DA. The state government employees have been getting only 6 per cent DA.

Leaders of the Sangrami Joutha Mancha — a joint platform of the state government employees' unions that has been carrying out an agitation for the past 265 days — said they would launch a bigger movement demanding their due DA in the near future.

“The central government did not ignore the needs of the employees and announced DA in regular intervals. But the government in Bengal does not look after its employees. That is why we are getting 40 per cent less DA,” said Bhaskar Ghosh of the Mancha.

Another Mancha leader said: “We will seek permission to demonstrate in front of Nabanna and Raj Bhavan soon. We will continue our agitation until the government clears our dues.”

Earlier, the state administrative tribunal (SAT) had ordered the Bengal government to pay its employees the DA on a par with the central staff and clear the dues. The government challenged the SAT order in Calcutta High Court. The high court upheld the SAT’s order and asked the state to clear the dues within three months, prompting the government to move the Supreme Court.

The matter is likely to come up for a hearing in the Supreme Court in November.

The leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, criticised the Mamata Banerjee government for not clearing the DA dues.

“The Union Cabinet has cleared a 4 percent Dearness Allowance (DA) & Dearness Relief (DR) hike for Central Govt. Employees and Pensioners. They would now receive DA at an increased rate of 46% from the existing 42%... Unfortunately the Gap between the rate of DA received by the Central Govt. Employees and WB Govt. Employees keep getting wider,” Adhikari wrote in his X handle.

The Trinamul Congress said the chief minister was very sympathetic about the demands of the state government employees, but the DA arrears could not be cleared as the Centre had held up the release of Rs 1.40 lakh crore due to Bengal.

“The employees should write to the central government to pay the state its dues. Once the central dues are cleared, the state will pay the outstanding DA of the employees,” said a Trinamul leader.