Covid-19 Fallout: Centre Freezes Dearness Allowance Hikes For Govt Employees And Pensioners Till July Next Year 

The Centre on Thursday announced that the increased dearness allowance (DA) to employees and pensioners announced last month will be suspended due to covid-19 crisis, reports News18.

The Government has also decided to put on hold the next two hikes in DA for the Central Government employees in a bid to contain the strain on its finances.

The order was signed by Additional Secretary Annie George Mathew which stated that the government will not pay the hike in dearness allowance that was due from 1 January 2020, and the rates will remain the same till July next year.

The order stated, “Dearness allowance and dearness relief will continued to be paid at current rates.”

The development comes less than a month after the union cabinet had approved a hike in DA from 4 per cent to a much higher 21 per cent.

Apart from 49.26 lakh central government employees, the decision will also impact over 61.17 lakh pensioners.

Previously, the government had also announced a paring down of the salaries of Ministers, Prime Minister (PM), President, and the members of Parliament by 30 per cent. In addition to these, the government had also suspended the PMLADS scheme for a span of two years