UP govt’s Diwali gift for its employees and pensioners, hikes DA by 4%

The Uttar Pradesh government has hiked the dearness allowance of state government employees by four per cent to 38 per cent ahead of Diwali. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced on Twitter saying, “The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to increase the dearness allowance and dearness relief for all state government employees and pensions to 38 per cent with effect from July 1, 2022. The government has also decided to pay a bonus of ₹6,908 to all employees for financial year 2021-22. Congratulations to all”.

Uttar Pradesh joins states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and the national capital territory of Delhi to hike dearness allowances of their state government employees.

This comes four days after the Chhattisgarh government too hiked the dearness allowance of its employees by five per cent to 35 per cent, thus benefitting nearly four lakh employees.

On October 7, the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi had hiked the dearness allowance of its employees by four per cent in accordance with the provisions of the central government. The Delhi government had also raised the minimum wages of the unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers with effect from October 1.

The Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand has also increased the dearness allowance for the state government employees and the dearness relief for the pensioners by four per cent, a move which will benefit around two lakh employees and 1.35 lakh pensioners, PTI quoted an official.

On September 28, the Centre hiked the DAs of employees and pensioners by four per cent to 38 per cent. The government announced that the revised DA will be effective from July 1 and will be paid as arrears.

Dearness allowance is a component of the monthly salary of government employees which is paid to compensate for the increase in cost of living due to inflation.