Mamata Banerjee's DA Announcement: Unrest Among State Government Employees

On Thursday, Mamata Banerjee declared that state government employees would receive an additional 4 percent dearness allowance, bringing the total to 10% starting in January 2024.

"State government employees put in a lot of work, so starting in January 2024, they will receive a 4 percent DA installment," the chief minister declared on Thursday, marking the opening of Park Street's Christmas Festival.

Mamata declared that the benefits of the increased DA would be extended to a total of 14 lakh workers and pensioners. The 4% increase in direct advertising revenue would result in an extra burden of Rs 2,400 crore for the state government.

The chief minister presented figures demonstrating how much money her state government has spent on employee DA since Trinamul took office in 2011.

"To provide employees with 125% DA (of their base pay) between 2011 and 2019, we have invested Rs 1.65 lakh crore. The chief minister stated, "Since 2019, the state government has expended 4,144 crore to provide 6 percent DA.

But among those working for the state government, this hike was hardly met with enthusiasm. A leader of the employee union brought up the fact that, even with this increase, state government employees in Bengal would still receive 36% less in disability benefits than those in the central government.

According to people with knowledge of the development, the chief minister was aware that the announcement would not go down well with state government workers. A bureaucrat claimed that despite this, she continued to make an effort to convey that she agreed with their demands.

"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 an official.

He clarified that the chief minister could have avoided the DA problem by stating that the case was still pending in the Supreme Court, where the state government was contesting the order from the Calcutta High Court directing the state to pay all employee-due DA. Nevertheless, she declared a 4% increase.

Additionally, starting on April 1 of this year, the chief minister gave employees a 3% DA installment.

Rough calculations indicate that the state would need to pay DA on par with central government employees and clear all outstanding DA debt with a total of Rs 41,000 crore.

According to a source, the state government was currently unable to bear such a significant financial burden. "So, it can be said that the chief minister tried her best to make the employees happy (with the 4 per cent hike)," he stated.

"The Lok Sabha elections are quickly approaching, and state government workers will be essential to their success. An official stated, "No ruling party would want unhappy workers to work in polling places.

But after 300 days of advocating for DA parity with central government employees, the joint platform of state government employees' unions declared that it would not give up because a 4% increase in DA was not the answer.

A 4-percent DA hike, according to a leader of the CPM-backed Coordination Committee, would be of no assistance to them.

"Compared to employees of the central government, we were receiving 40% less DA... We will now receive 36% less. "Is there a difference if we purchase necessities from the same market?" he inquired.

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