The state government is trying to reduce the burden of DA (Dearness Allowance) on employees, said Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy on Tuesday.

Responding to a notification raised by Congress MLA Gopal  Chandra Roy at the last day of autumn session of Tripura Legislative Assembly  on Tuesday, , Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy said that keeping in mind the financial situation, the government has been providing DA to employees and pensioners in a phased manner. The state government is committed to providing facilities to employees and pensioners despite financial constraints.

The Finance Minister informed the House that the state government has increased the employees’ basic pay by following the Central Government’s pay structure, hiking the fitment factor from 2.25 to 2.57. After this, the employees’ basic pay rose by 14.22 percent, resulting in an additional burden of Rs 2,000 crores on the state exchequer. Along with this, the state government is providing DA regularly to employees and pensioners.

He said, although in earlier times DA had not been paid regularly to employees, the present government has taken steps to provide DA in a phased manner. Employees now receive DA every six months. So far, since the present government came into power, DA has been released 5 times.

The Finance Minister further said that due to legal issues, employees’ promotions were blocked for a long time. But through continuous efforts, the present government has opened the scope for promotion through adhoc promotions, enabling employees to get their due benefits. For this purpose, the government has formulated a new policy.

He also said that the retirement age of TSR and police jawans has been increased from 58 years to 60 years, and allowances such as Dress Allowance and Home Guard’s Monthly Allowance have also been increased. The present government has raised employees’ festival grants from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000. Additionally, the festival grant for 2018 has been increased threefold.