Odishatv Bureau

The dearness allowance (DA) of the Central government employees has been increased by 3 per cent effective from January 1, 2019, to "compensate" for price rise. This move of the Modi government will benefit 1.1 crore central government employees and pensioners.

The cabinet has approved the additional DA of 3 per cent over the existing rate of 9 per cent to government employees and dearness relief (DR) to pensioners from January 1, 2019, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after a Cabinet meeting that was held yesterday in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission, benefiting about 48.41 lakh central government employees and 62.03 lakh pensioners.

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs 9,168.12 crore per annum and Rs 10,696.14 crore in 2019-20 (for a period of 14 months from January 2019 to February 2020), said Jaitley.

However, no decision has been reportedly so far on the central government employees demand for an increase in the minimum pay.

The CG employees are presently getting a minimum pay of Rs 18,000. They have been demanding a hike of Rs 8000 or an increase in the fitment factor by 3.68 times from the existing 2.57 times. However, the government is yet to look into the demand of the CG employees.

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