Four percent hike in DA for all W Bengal employees

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has declared a 4 percent hike in dearness allowance (DA) for all state employees starting from New Year's Day. This raise will apply to 14 lakh government employees, as well as teaching and non-teaching staff, employees of statutory undertakings, parastatals, and pensioners. Banerjee said while the provision of DA is mandatory for the central government, it is optional for the state employees. This decision would result in an additional expenditure of Rs 2,400 crore for the W Bengal government. Since assuming office, the Mamata Banerjee government has gradually implemented 90 percent of the recommendations from the Fifth Pay Commission, incurring a total expenditure of Rs 1,66,865 crores to date. Furthermore, in 2019, the state government adopted the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, hiking DA to 125 percent of the employees' basic pay.