New Delhi: Due to the corona crisis in the country, the Modi government has put a ban on the dearness allowance (DA) of central employees for the time being. At the same time, the government has also reduced its DA by about 4 percent. Earlier, DA was paid to central employees at the rate of about 21 percent, but now the government is paying them at the rate of 17 percent. The government has said that the decision on the dearness allowance of central employees will be taken only after June 2021. The government increases the DA twice a year, but it has been stopped due to the Corona crisis.
The expected increase in salary and pension from June 2021
Central employees and pensioners hope that after June 2021, the government can provide relief on DA. If the government does so, then from June next year, the central employees and pensioners will get increased salaries and pensions. Generally, the government increases the DA of central employees twice a year on January 1 and July 1.
Due to the corona crisis, DA increased only once this year
Due to the corona crisis, the government has increased the dearness allowance of employees by 4 percent in January this year. This was followed by a lockdown from the last week of March due to the increasing incidence of coronavirus in the country from February 2020. After this, the government has stopped the increase in dearness allowance of the central employees and has also reduced it. At present, it is having a direct impact on the families of more than 50 lakh central employees and more than 55 lakh pensioners.
Diwali bonus is given on Dussehra
however, after the reduction and withholding of the dearness allowance of the central employees, the Central Government has also worked to provide relief to them. The government has paid a Diwali bonus to non-Gazetted Central employees on the occasion of Dussehra at the very beginning of the festive season. This has brought relief to the families of about 30 lakh employees.
The government launched the LTC Cash Voucher Scheme for March
In addition, the government has taken important decisions on Leave Travel Allowance (LTA) and Leave Travel Concession (LTC). Under this, central employees can cash LTC cash vouchers without traveling. Employees can avail of this government facility till next March. Apart from all these, pensioners can now store pension payment orders in Digilocker. The complete reliance on a physical copy of this pension payment order has been reduced to some extent.
