After Chhattisgarh raised its dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees, the Maharashtra government also hiked its DA by 3 per cent on Tuesday. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting presided by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, said the statement by the Chief Minister's Office on Tuesday, reported news agency PTI.
The revised DA will be applicable from August. The latest raise has taken the hike in dearness allowance to 34 per cent against the basic salary, the CMO statement noted.
The hike in Maharashtra comes soon after the Chhattisgarh government announced a 6 per cent increase in DA of state government employees. The DA has been raised to 28 per cent. The Chief Minister Office tweeted the order saying the state government employees were getting 22 percent dearness allowance under the 7th Pay Commission and 174 per cent under the 6th Pay Commission since May this year.
Gujarat also announced a 3 per cent increase in the DA for the state government employees under the 7th Pay Commission on Monday. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said the hike would be applicable with retrospective effect from January 1, 2022.
Tamil Nadu also gave a 3 percent hike in DA, from 31 percent to 34 per cent, for government employees and pensioners.
The Madhya Pradesh government also announced a hike of 3 per cent in DA for over 7.5 lakh government employees in the state, taking it to 34 percent. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the increase will cost the exchequer an additional Rs 625 crore.
The cabinet of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on August 3 cleared a proposal for a 5 per cent DA increase for state government employees and retirees with effect from July 1.
Meanwhile, Shinde also announced free travel for senior citizens having completed 75 years of age in the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation buses.