Dearness Allowance 2021: Govt To Restore 3 Pending Instalments Of DA From July 1

The three installments of DA for central government employees and DR for pensioners, which were due on January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021, were put on hold in the backdrop of Covid-19 pandemic.

(Representative Image/ Getty)

In what comes as a much-needed relief for Central government employees, the Finance Ministry on Tuesday assured that it will restore the three pending instalments of Dearness Allowances (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) of all employees and pensioners prospectively.

Minister for State for Finance Anurag Thakur informed the upper house (Rajya Sabha) in a written reply that the due instalments of DA for the Central government employees will be "subsumed in the cumulative revised rates effective from July 1, 2021."

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The three instalments of DA for central government employees and DR for pensioners, which were due on January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021, were put on hold in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision to restore the perk from July would reportedly benefit over 50 lakh employees and more than 65 lakh pensioners.

"As and when the decision to release the future instalments of Dearness Allowance due from 01.07.2021 is taken, the rates of DA as effective from 01.01.2020, 01.07.2020 and 01.01. 2021 will be restored prospectively and will be subsumed in the cumulative revised rates effective from 01.07.2021," Thakur said in a written letter.

With the suspension of DA revision for around 1.5 years, the Centre has saved a total of Rs 37,530.08 crore funds that helped it to augment resources required to tackle the economic crisis caused due to the Coronavirus-induced lockdown.

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Currently, central government employees get a DA of 17 per cent. This level of DA became effective from July 2019 with further revision due from January 2020. But this along with subsequent two other revisions were suspended due to Covid-19.

With Finance Ministry planning to restore DA benefits from July 1, central government employees and pensioners can expect a fat increase in the allowance that will also cover the possible increases in three previous due cycles.