5% DA Hike For Chhattisgarh Govt Employees, 3.5 Lakh Staffers To Benefit

The Chhattisgarh government on Thursday increased dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees by 5 per cent, taking it to 38 per cent. It comes months ahead of the year-end Assembly polls in the Congress-ruled state.

The state government's decision will benefit around 3.80 lakh staffers. "We have decided in the cabinet meeting to increase the DA by 5 per cent for state government employees. The hike will put an additional burden of Rs 1000 crore per annum on the exchequer," CM Baghel tweeted.

The decision was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, a government official said.

The official said the DA of government employees was increased by 5 per cent in October last year, which had taken the rate to 33 per cent.

"Now, they will get 38 per cent DA. The state government has also reduced eligibility criteria for full pension from 33 years of service to 30 years of service, while the qualifying service period for voluntary retirement has been reduced from 20 years to 17 years," the official said.

Just two weeks ago, the Madhya Pradesh government announced that it was increasing the Dearness Allowance (DA) of state government employees by 4 per cent.

This announcement was made at a mass marriage function at Gillor village in Sehore district, according to a report in PTI.

The Chief Minister said that the state government will increase the DA by four per cent to bring it on par with the one offered by the Centre.