Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has approved a 4 per cent dearness allowance (DA) hike for state govt employees. With this, DA has increased from 38 per cent to 42 per cent.
The hike comes into effect retrospectively from April 1, 2023.
According to an official release, the move would entail an additional expenditure of Rs 2,366.82 crore.
Further, the release said that the state government will effect a DA increase whenever the Central government increases.
After the announcement, President of Tamil Nadu Secretariat Association Venkatesan, Secretary Harishankar and others called on CM Stalin to thank him.
The announcement will benefit 16 lakh government employees, teachers and pensioners. An official statement said that the Stalin-led DMK government was implementing promises given to teachers and government employees even though the state was under debt following the Covid-related dip in revenue earnings and financial crisis in the state that was passed on from the previous regime.
The government in the statement said that the DA hike would be at par with that of the Centre.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu government increased DA for government employees including teachers and pensioners from 34 per cent to 38 per cent in January 2023. The increased was made effective from January 1, 2023.
Terming the DA hike a ‘New Year gift’, Stalin appealed to the staff to cooperate with the government in its efforts aimed at people’s welfare and prosperity. To the demand of government teachers demanding ‘equal pay for equal work’, he said, the government has decided to take steps based on the recommendations of the panel.
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(With IANS inputs)