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In a Diwali bonanza to state government employees and pensioners, poll-bound Uttarakhand has increased the dearness allowance (DA) with retrospective effect  from July 1. The DA has been increased by 28%. The hike has been approved by a cabinet committee chaired by the newly appointed Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The Centre had also recently revised the DA component of its employees and pensioners.

DA revision by other states

Around 1.6 lakh employees and almost 1.5 lakh pensioners are expected to benefit from this move. By hiking the DA, Uttarakhand has followed Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Haryana, Karnataka, and Rajasthan, which have also increased the DA of their government employees.

Cost of DA hike

The decision by the Uttarakhand government to hike its employees’ DA is expected cost the government nearly Rs 1,800 crore annually.

In April 2020, the central government had put on hold increments in DA till June 30, 2021 in view of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and the resultant economic consequences.

Other key decisions

Other important decisions taken by the Uttarakhand cabinet include allowing contractual teachers in seven engineering institutes to work from October 2021 to March 31, 2022 and meeting expenses worth Rs 3.83 crore for payment of their salaries.

The government decisions, which were announced by Uttarakhand government’s spokesperson Subodh Uniyal, also included allowing payments of Rs 10,000 to Ayurveda and Homeopathy practicing doctors who served the people during the first and second waves of the pandemic.

Grade C and Grade D employees working with government’s Ayurveda and Homeopathy departments will also get Rs 3000. The government has also decided to connect seven cities in the hill state through helicopter services to promote tourism.