THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The employees are worried that the government is trying to escape from the liability of dearness allowance and dearness relief after the pay revision. Dearness allowance has not been paid since the implementation of the pay revision in 2021.
Seven installments are due at present. The government's stand is that two instalments of dearness allowance will be paid in a year while this is already pending. Accordingly, one instalment each of dearness allowance and dearness relief was given in April and October this year. With the retrospective effect and the corresponding arrears not being paid, it is clear that the government is paying only this year's dearness allowance. The order does not specify which year's dearness allowance is being paid. If the employees fail to receive all seven instalments till last year, they will lose an amount equivalent to three months' salary.
According to government estimates, Rs 4822.79 crore will be required to pay DA dues for January 2021 and Rs 3455.64 crore to pay the dues for July 2021. Rs 17,000 crore is required to pay the pending seven instalments of arrears. If this is authorised, the government will have to pay it in cash or pay it in PF. In either case, the government will have to bear a huge financial burden. There will be an additional liability of Rs 2,000 crore due to the payment of two instalments this year. If all the seven instalments are paid, there will be an additional expenditure of more than Rs 6,000 crore per year. The government's stand is that it cannot take on such a burden in the present situation.