Bengal govt announces 4% DA hike
A 4 per cent hike in the dearness allowance (DA) of Bengal government employees and pensioners from January 2024 was announced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday, during the inauguration of the Kolkata Christmas Festival at Allen Park on Park Street.
Significantly, the announcement came hours after the Calcutta High Court allowed a protest by government employees opposite the state secretariat of Nabanna from December 22 to December 24.
With this, she said, “the government’s expenditure will rise to 2,400 crore per year. Twenty-four lakh government employees will benefit from this”.
In an effort to dismiss any hint of coercion due to the planned protest opposite Nabanna, she added that “giving the DA is not compulsory”. Though there is “scarcity of funds”, the decision was taken “thinking about the families of government employees”.
Almost one year ago, a section of state government employees sat in protest at Dharmatala demanding the full DA after the Calcutta High Court ordered the state government to pay the dues. That decision was challenged in the Supreme Court, which decision is pending.
