Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Tuesday announced a 12 per cent raise in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) for state government employees and pensioners, efftective from December 1. The state government employees' DA has now gone up to 20 per cent from 8 per cent.
In a press conference, Manik Saha said, “A total of 1,04,600 regular employees and 80,800 pensioners will benefit from the decision. Besides, ... and part-time employees will receive the benefit as their remunerations have been almost doubled.”
Saha said, “Despite a shortage of resources, the government has revised the salary structures to give benefit to the lakhs of employees and their families.” Tripura Chief Minister said the decision of the government to increase the DA/DR by 12 per cent will put an additional amount of Rs 120 crore per month and Rs 1,440 crore per annum.
State’s Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Debbarm said that there has been government criticism for not increasing DA for government employees and social pensions to the beneficiaries. “The government aims at maximum benefit to the maximum people. We want to set a benchmark for state government employees by taking the courageous step”, he said. Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Debbarm also holds the Finance portfolio.
On questions about how the additional burden of Rs 1,440 crore annually will be managed, the Deputy Chief Minister said, “this is an art of managing finance effectively amidst resource constraint. A bit of courage and a broad heart are needed to give maximum benefit to the people.”
“It is the perception of the people how they look at it,” he added.
The Tripura Legislative Assembly election is expected to be held in Tripura by March 2023.