Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced another 4 per cent dearness allowance for state government employees, taking the total DA to 10 per cent with effect from January 2024.
"State government employees work hard.... So an installment of 4 per cent DA will be given to them with effect from January, 2024," said the chief minister while inaugurating the Christmas Festival at Park Street on Thursday.
Mamata said that a total 14 lakh employees and pensioners would get benefits of the enhanced DA. The state government would have to shoulder an additional burden of Rs 2,400 crore for the 4 per cent DA hike.
The chief minister rolled out numbers to show her state government had spent handsomely to give DA to the employees since Trinamul came to power in 2011.
"We have spent Rs 1.65 lakh crore between 2011 and 2019 to give 125 per cent DA (of the basic pay) to the employees. Since 2019, the state government has spent 4,144 crore to give 6 per cent DA," said the chief minister.
However, there was hardly any cheer among state government employees over this hike. One of the employee union leaders pointed out that Bengal's state government employees would still be getting 36 per cent less DA compared to central government employees after this hike.
Sources aware of the development said that the chief minister knew that the announcement would not cut much ice with state government employees. However, she still tried to show that she was sympathetic to their demands, a bureaucrat said.
"By announcing 4 per cent DA from January next year, the chief minister made it clear she is sympathetic towards the demands of the state government employees...," said a bureaucrat.
He explained that the chief minister could have averted the DA issue by saying that the matter was pending at the Supreme Court where the state government challenged the Calcutta High Court order that asked the state to clear all the due DA to the employees. Still, she announced a 4 per cent hike.
Moreover, the chief minister had given an installment of 3 per cent DA to employees from April 1 this year.
A rough estimate suggests that the state would require a total Rs 41,000 crore to clear all pending DA and pay DA on a par with central government employees.
A source said the state government could not afford such a huge financial burden at the moment. "So, it can be said that the chief minister tried her best to make the employees happy (with the 4 per cent hike)," he said.
"Lok Sabha polls are approaching and state government employees will play a vital role in holding the polls. No ruling party would like disgruntled employees to work in polling booths," added an official.
However, the joint platform of state government employees' unions, agitating for DA on a par with central government employees for the past 300 days, said it would continue its agitation as "4 per cent DA hike is not the solution".
A leader of the CPM-backed Coordination Committee said a 4 per cent DA hike would not help them at all.
"We were getting 40 per cent less DA than central government employees.... Now, we will get 36 per cent less. Does it make any difference when we buy essential commodities from the same market?" he asked.
