Now the question is whether the central employees and pensioners will get the arrears of these 18 months? On this issue, MP Anand Bhadauria raised questions in the Lok Sabha regarding the DA arrears of central government employees during COVID-19 and a direct question was asked to the government. The central government gave a precise answer to this in the Parliament.

According to the news published in Economic Times, the government told the Parliament that it was decided to stop the payment of three installments of 18 months from 1 January 2020, 1 July 2020 and 1 January 2021 during the Corona epidemic. At that time the country’s economy had deteriorated. There was a lot of pressure on the government treasury. In such a situation, this step was taken to reduce the burden of expenditure and maintain financial stability.

The government replied in Parliament

When the government was asked when the pending DA and DR will be released? On this, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that the impact of the economic loss during the Corona epidemic and the additional expenditure on welfare schemes continued even beyond 2020-21. In such a situation, it is not possible to pay these outstanding installments at present.

Overall, the government has clearly refused to pay the 18 months’ DA/DR dues of central employees and pensioners. It is being said that during the Corona period, the central government had saved Rs 34,402 crore by stopping DA-DR for 18 months.

Know what is dearness allowance

Dearness Allowance (DA) is an additional part of the salary given by the government to its employees to give them relief from inflation. Its purpose is to reduce the impact of rising prices. Dearness Relief (DR) is given to pensioners to provide similar relief.

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For the last few months, there were constant reports that the minimum pension under the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) could soon be increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 7,500 per month, as a parliamentary committee and many employee organizations were repeatedly demanding this from the government. According to reports, the government is currently considering this proposal and consultations are being held on the process of implementing it.

No decision has been taken yet on increasing the pension

The government told the Parliament that no final decision has been taken yet on the increase of pension. The government has admitted that there is a constant demand from the pensioners to increase the minimum pension . In the reply given in the Parliament, it was told that earlier in 2014, the minimum monthly pension was made Rs. 1,000 through budgetary support and a review is currently underway on this. But at present, no formal announcement or decision has been made to give a pension of Rs. 7,500 or more.

What are the future possibilities?

The government is currently assessing the committee’s proposal and the budget impact. According to the ministry, whenever a concrete decision is taken, Parliament and the public will be informed about it. This means that in the current situation, pensioners will have to wait a little longer and at present the minimum amount of pension is still Rs 1,000.

The discussion on increasing PF pension is going on in full swing, the recommendations of the parliamentary panel and the demands of the employees are strong, but the government has made it clear in the Parliament that at present no final decision has been taken regarding increasing the amount. The good news for pensioners is that it is being considered, all eyes are on what happens next.

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