"At present, the state government employees and pensioners are getting 35 per cent DA from July this year. The council of ministers decided to hike it by seven per cent more with effect from December this year taking the rate to 42 per cent," state Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury told reporters.
He said, "new DA is announced in January every year but this time we have announced it two months ahead of the schedule as code of conduct for elections could be affected as election is scheduled in February next year."
The additional financial implication for new DA would be Rs 217 crore per annum, he added.
The minister said despite increasing 7 per cent DA for the pensioners and state government employees the difference between the state and central employees still remained at 30 per cent.
When the central government employees were getting DA at the rate of 72 per cent, the state employees were getting only 42 per cent, he said.