The Government of Sikkim has approved a four per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) for government employees and pensioners. The increment will come into retrospective effect from 1 July 2023.
The nod to the proposal to increase DA was given during the first cabinet meeting recently, presided over by Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang.
With this, the DA for government staff and retired employees has gone up to 46 per cent. That means, there will be an additional financial pressure of about Rs 174 crore on the state government in this fiscal.
Last year, that is, September 2023, the Sikkim government had increased the DA from 38 per cent to 42 per cent. On 15 September 2023, Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang had announced that the adjustment would be effective from January 2023.
At the time, recognising the significance of financial security for retirees, it was decided that the old pension scheme should be reinstated.
Meanwhile, in West Bengal, the four per cent increment in dearness allowance that was promised to the employees of the West Bengal government will be paid to them with their June Salary. It will be effective from April instead of May, as was earlier announced. With this hike, the difference in DA between the Central government and West Bengal government will be only 32 per cent.
The DA for Central government employees has already been raised to 50 per cent.