Uttarakhand Govt follows Centre, freezes additional installments of DA, DR for employees

With an aim to ease the financial burden on people amid lockdown, the Uttarakhand Government on Friday froze additional instalments of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) for its government employees and pensioners till July 2021.

The State Government rolled out the notification in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in nationwide lockdown till May 3. The notification also stated that the additional installments of DA and DR due from July 1, 2020, to January 1, 2021 will not be paid.

The decision from the Uttarakhand government was followed by the Centre’s order to halt the increase in DA for its employees, considering the strain on finances due to coronavirus.

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Centre freezes DA & DR at current rates

In a big development on Thursday, the Centre announced the freezing of the Dearness Allowance for the Central government employees and the Dearness Relief for the Central government pensioners at current rates. The Union Cabinet's decision in March to hike the DA and DR rates from 17% to 21% shall not come into force until July 1, 2021. This call has been taken in the wake of the ongoing novel coronavirus crisis.

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It added that the installments of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief due from January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021, shall not be paid. At the same time, the DA and DR at the current rate of 17% will continue to be paid.

Moreover, it has been clarified that no arrears from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, shall be paid even when the Centre decides to release the future installment of DA and DR. In such a scenario, the Ministry of Finance has promised to restore the DA and DR rates applicable from January 1, 2020, prospectively and will be subsumed in the cumulative revised rate effective from July 1, 2021. Nearly 1.13 crore families are expected to be affected by this move. 

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(With inputs from ANI)