About 8.8 million Central government employees and pensioners today received a bonanza with 10-percentage-point increase in their Dearness Allowance (DA).
A day after about 50 million organised workforce was cheered by one percentage point increase in the interest rate on the provident fund to 9.5 per cent, the Cabinet approved the increase in DA from 35 per cent to 45 per cent of the basic salary of central government employees.
Although the exchequer will have to bear an additional annual burden of Rs 9,303.2 crore, the employees’ union is not happy about the quantum of rise.
The new DA will be paid with retrospective effect from July 1, 2010, and the burden during the current financial year is estimated to be Rs 6,202.1 crore.
