DA & DR benefits further delayed, to be resumed in September 2021

July 3: In what seems to be a matter of great disappointment, the resumption of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) central government employees has further been delayed from July to September 2021. If sources are to be believed than this decision was taken at a recently concluded high-level meeting on June 26, which was attended by finance ministry officials, members of the National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery and the department of personnel and training.

Earlier, there have been reports that DA will be resumed from this month. However, finance ministry later clarified that it had not issued any notice regarding the resumption of DA for central government employees and pensioners from July. So now the central government employees have to wait for two more months to avail of the benefits.

At present, the central government pays its employees a dearness allowance of 17 per cent, which has been effective from July 2019. In April last year, the central government put hike in dearness allowance on hold in the wake of coronavirus outbreak. The ministry also stated that no arrears will be paid from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021.