Nitish Kumar government hikes Dearness Allowance for employees, pensioners

PATNA: The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar today announced a pre-election sop for government employees and pensioners by hiking Dearness Allowance by six to 11 per cent.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Briefing on the cabinet decisions, Principal Secretary, Cabinet Coordination, Shishir Sinha told reporters the DA has been increased from 107 per cent to 113 per cent for revised salary category for employees.

For those falling under unrevised category (those who could not avail 6th Pay Commission because of some service related dispute) the DA was raised from 212 per cent to 223 per cent, Sinha said.

For both categories, which constitute about four lakh employees, the hiked DA would be applicable with effect from January 1 this year, the principal secretary said.

The government would incur an additional financial burden of Rs 821 crore annually due to hike in the DA, he added.

The Bihar cabinet also approved a total of 24 agendas of different departments today.