Chandigarh, Nov 4 — Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Wednesday announced the release of a three per cent dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees and pensioners, providing financial relief to nearly eight lakh beneficiaries.
He described the decision as a Diwali gift for government employees and pensioners.
The Chief Minister announced that the DA instalment release would be added to the December instalment. In September, the Punjab government decided to increase DA by eight per cent for employees and pensioners.
Appreciating the contribution of employees in the functioning of government administration, CM Mann said that the government employees are the backbone of the administrative machinery and play a vital role in delivering government services and welfare schemes to the people.
The Chief Minister said that the state government “values the hard work and dedication of its employees. The government believes that employee satisfaction is very important for providing better services to the people”.
He said that the decision to release the three per cent dearness allowance instalment has been taken with the aim of fulfilling the long-pending demand of the employees.
CM Mann also congratulated the government employees and their families on this announcement. Earlier, after a meeting between the Chief Minister and representatives of various employee and pensioner organisations in Chandigarh on September 18, the DA rate was increased from 42 per cent to 50 per cent.
The enhanced allowance was effective from September 1. That decision followed prolonged discussions between the government and employee unions, which had been demanding the release of pending DA instalments and the resolution of other service-related issues.
The September announcement had also come after weeks of agitation by government employees over pending allowances and other demands. Employee organisations had been pressing the government to release outstanding DA instalments. However, several issues, including restoration of the Old Pension Scheme and other service-related demands, remain subjects of discussion between employee organisations and the state government.