Rajasthan government employees get 5% increase in DA; orders issued

Jaipur: The Ashok Gehlot government has provided great relief to the state employees amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) scare. The government has increased DA of its employees by 5%. The employees will get the increased DA from 1 July, 2019. The DA arrears will be deposited in GPF from July 2019 to February 2020.

The government exchequer will bear an additional financial burden of about Rs 3,417 crore. About 8 lakh employees of the state government and 4.40 lakh pensioners will benefit from the increase in the DA. The DA has now gone up to 12%.

The State Finance Department on Friday issued the official order of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who had announced the DA increase in the last budget. Apart from the state government employees, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad employees will also get the benefit of increased dearness allowance.

The central government had increased the DA of central employees about 9 months ago. But the state government did not issue orders to increase DA. The employees will get 8 months arrears. The DA will be paid in cash to employees appointed after 2004, while it will be deposited in GPF accounts of employees who were appointed before 2004.

Chief Minister Gehlot had announced to increase the DA by 5% in the budget speech. Various employee organizations of the state have welcomed the move. State President of the Employees Federation Unified, Gajendra Singh Rathore said that in the midst of the corona virus crisis, the increase in DA will come as a big relief.