Bengal government announced additional 18% DA to state government employees

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced 18 per cent additional hike in dearness allowance for state government employees and a 10 % interim relief from next January.

“We give DA to our employees every January. Though we do not have much funds because of the centre’s deductions, we pay DA to our employees almost every year. With this, we will complete almost 125% dearness allowance for our employees," said Banerjee at Nabanna.

The chief minister further added that her government has been releasing DA every year despite the huge loan burden it has inherited from the Left Front government. "The financial implication for releasing this funds will be huge. The government will have to release funds worth Rs 5000 crore to bear the cost," she added.


She further added that the Left Front government could only release 35% DA while her government could release 90% more despite a huge loan burden. “We have done this after running several social schemes and implementing several development projects.” State finance minister Amit Mitra added that releasing the DA has cost the state exchequer at least 27000 crore in last seven years.