AGARTALA:
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Tripura government, in a bid to win hearts, announced on August 2 that it would be giving its employees 5 per cent dearness allowance (DA) and also a similar proportion as dearness relief (DR) for all pensioners.
Speaking exclusively with The Meghalayan, Finance Minister Jishnu Dev Varma said that the state government declared DA of 5 per cent for the different categories of government employees.
“The government has come forward for the benefit of government employees even in these difficult times. We will always try to give them benefits as much as we can, taking into consideration different factors,” he said.
Later, during a press conference, Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Sushanta Chowdhury, who also holds the charge of Cabinet spokesman, said the increase in DA comes at a time when the state is undergoing a fund crunch.
“The employees of Central government are now receiving 33 per cent of DA and of course, there is a huge gap. But we are working to minimize the gap as fast as possible,” he said.
The hike in DA will come into effect from July 01, 2022. This will put an extra burden of Rs 523 crore on the state’s exchequer.
It is worthy to mention here that soon after the BJP came to power in the state, it announced 3 per cent DA and now it has announced 5 per cent taking the total to 8 per cent.