Govt likely to increase and merge
dearness allowance with basic pay
Mahendra Kumar Singh,TNN
NEW DELHI: The government may
increase and merge dearness allowance (DA) with basic pay with the Union
Cabinet expected to include the proposal as part of the terms of reference of
the 7th pay commission.
The move will facilitate
announcement of interim relief to more than 50 lakh government employees and 30
lakh pensioners by the newly-constituted pay commission before the code of
conduct for the Lok Sabha polls come into force.
Central government employees unions
have been demanding that besides raising DA to 100%, the government should
revise the pay and merge DA with basic pay, considering market inflation and
price hike of essential commodities.
As per practice, DA is merged with
basic pay when it breaches the 50% mark. DA merger helps employees as their
other allowances are paid as a proportion of basic pay.
An official said if merger of 50% DA
with basic pay was decided, it could lead to hike in salary by around 30-35%.
He added that there were instances of announcing interim relief to employees
apart from DA by a newly constituted pay commission prior to their implementation.
Merger of 50% DA with basic pay was
done in the 5th pay commission, but the 6th commission did not recommended
it.
The Centre is expected to announce
next month a hike in dearness allowance by 10% which would make it 100% of
basic pay. It will be the second double digit DA hike in a row as the
government had announced a hike of 10% in September last year, effective from
July 1, 2013.
An official said hike in DA will not
be less than 10% and would be effective from January 1 this year.
