The four per cent increment in dearness allowance or DA 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.
When the four per cent hike was announced in December 2023, the chief minister was criticized because of the huge disparity between the DA of Central government employees and West Bengal government employees.
State employees, associated with the Sangrami Joutha Mancha (SJM), had been advocating for a year to achieve parity in DA increases with their Central government counterparts.
Even after said raise, state-government employees felt the hike was not enough and were determined to persist in their endeavour to pressurise the government till their full DA demands were fulfilled.
In addition to a DA hike, West Bengal government employees has been demanding regularisation and aligning of DA with the rates granted to Central-government employees.
Last year, at the time of announcing the four per cent DA hike, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that it would positively impact around 14 lakh state government employees and pensioners, and lead to an additional cost of Rs 2,400 crore for the government. She had also informed that the raise wouldl benefit teachers and staff in educational institutions, statutory undertakings, parastatals and pensioners.
