Central Govt Employees DA rate frozen till July 2021 | Fusion - WeRIndia

While COVID-19 is causing immense loss of life, it is not the only thing getting damaged. Experts suggest that the economic effects of this pandemic will continue for a long time.

It is up to the government to provide relief to the people and boost the economy. This means, that the government has to take some strong decisions.

As part of that, the finance ministry announced that they are putting the DA (dearness allowance) of central government employees and pensioners on hold from January 1, 2020, to July 1, 2021.

This decision has been taken clearly to offset the increased financial pressure on the government. There has already been a huge increase in government expenditure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it is likely to continue in the future.

Central government employees should brace for a reduction in expected income as three hikes of DA and DR from Jan 1, 2020, to July 1, 2021, will not happen. It should be noted that employees will continue to receive the current rate of DA included in their salary.

Just last month, the Union Cabinet announced a 4 per cent hike in the DA for government employees. However, that hike will now be put on hold.

The finance ministry stated that DA and DR rates will start again from July 1, 2012. However, there will be no form of arrears paid for this time period. It is yet another thing lost to the pandemic.

However, with this move, the government will be saving ₹37,530 crores for the financial year 2020-21 and 2021-22.

It is also expected that this move will be followed for state government employees. That would save the government a further amount of ₹82566 crores.

As such, by freezing the current DA rate of employees and pensioners, the government aims to save around ₹1.2 lac crores to use for the fight against COVID-19.

Image Reference: https://www.pexels.com/photo/vidhan-sabha-1788765/