By Partha Sarathi Behera
RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh government has announced a six per cent hike in the dearness allowance (DA) of its employees, raising it to 28 per cent. DA will benefit at least 3.8 lakh state government employees.
The chief minister’s office (CMO) tweeted that the state government employees were getting 22% DA under the 7th Pay Commission and 174% under the 6th Pay Commission since May this year. The announcement comes at a time when a faction of the state government officers and employees have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from August 22, demanding DA at par with central government employees and other demands.
Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel had promised to increase DA by six per cent during a meeting an employees’ delegation, which met him at his official residence on August 13.
The CMO’s official Twitter handle reads that the state government employees were getting 22% DA under the 7th Pay Commission and 174% under the 6th Pay Commission since May this year. The employees will get 28 per cent and 189 per cent DA from August one this year. The hike will put an additional burden of Rs 2,160 crore per annum on the exchequer.
However, Chhattisgarh Karmchari-Adhikari Federation (CKAF) was not satisfied with the 6% hike proposed by the state government after a delegation of Chhattisgarh Karmchari Adhikari Mahasangh (CKAM) met with the chief minister on July 13.
CKAF, which had staged a pen-down strike from July 25 to 29 during the monsoon session of the assembly, wanted that the chief minister should have discussed the issue with them, instead of CKAM and demanded more hikes in DA.
The CKAF had again announced an indefinite strike from August 22 to press their demands.
