Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann announces 3% DA hike for 8 lakh government employees this Diwali

Punjab Chief minister Bhagwant Mann announced a 3% hike in dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees. The development comes after recent DA hikes announced by the Central government.

Commenting on the new measure, the CM said the new measure would benefit nearly eight lakh government employees.

"A Diwali gift is being given from the state government to eight lakh employees and pensioners. A 3 per cent instalment of DA will be released," PTI reported, citing the chief minister.


According to Mann, when the AAP government came to power the DA rate was 28%, which was later increased by them to 53%.

The CM said his government raised the DA rate by 11% within two months, which earlier grew by 8%. He also said 71,777 government jobs were given on merit basis.

"The doors are always open for the demands of employees, and they can come at any time and discuss," Mann added.

The announcement comes against the backdrop of statewide protests held by government employees in September over DA arrears by government and implementation of old pension scheme (OPS), reported ET’s Nidhi Sharma.

The earlier protests grew to over 7.5 lakh protestors —- employees and pensioners involved, who demanded the release of the 18% DA component. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had decided to challenge the decisions before the Supreme Court.

(With inputs from PTI)