- Relief to more than 12 lakh railway workers and pensioners, federations expressed happiness
New Delhi. The Central Government has increased the dearness allowance i.e. DA of central employees from 17% to 28% amid the Corona epidemic. This will be applicable from 1st July 2021. More than 50 lakh central employees and 61 lakh pensioners will get the benefit of this decision by the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday. In this way, the central government has lifted the ban on dearness allowance of central employees. There will now be an increase of 11 percent in the dearness allowance of the employees.
The government had banned the increase in DA of central employees and pensioners till June 2021. Central government employees and pensioners are yet to get 3 installments of DA. These installments were to be given on 1 January 2020, 1 July 2020 and 1 January 2021. To reduce the effect of inflation in the country, the government gives dearness allowance to its employees. It is extended from time to time. Retired employees also get the benefit of this. All the central organizations, including the Railways, had opened a front against the government for freezing the DA.
On Wednesday, the government released the wholesale inflation figures for June. In this, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) declined to 12.07% in June, which rose to a record 12.94% in May for the fifth consecutive month. At the same time, in June 2020, the wholesale inflation rate was 1.81%. The retail inflation rate in the country has been recorded above 6 percent for the second consecutive month. According to data released by the government, retail inflation stood at 6.26 per cent in June this year, which is just four basis points lower than May’s level of 6.3 per cent. According to the data of the National Statistics Office, the rate of inflation in the food basket was recorded at 5.15 percent in June, which was 5.01 percent in May.
According to media reports, the government had increased the DA of central employees by four percent in January 2020 and after that it was increased by three percent in the second half. Then in January 2021, it was increased by four percent. In this way, increasing the DA from 17 percent to 28 percent will benefit the employees a lot. Because the government had banned it since January last year. Now after the ban is lifted, the amount of all three installments will be available. Railway federations have expressed relief and happiness on this decision of the government.