The finance ministry has turned down a request from pensioners to release three instalments of dearness relief (DR) held back during the peak days of the Covid-19 pandemic; two people aware of the matter said Hindustan Times reported.
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had frozen three installments of DA/DR payments, which were due on January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021.
“At the 32nd meeting of standing committee of voluntary agencies for review and rationalisation of pension rules, a representative of the Department of Expenditure (DoE) specified that the amount of DAs and DRs that had been frozen would not be restored,” one of the two people said, according to Hindustan Times.
After the freeze was removed on July 21, the DA and DR allowances have seen three increases that double them.; the finance ministry informed the Parliament in August 2021.
“On account of freezing of three installments of DA and DR to central government employees and pensioners due from 01.01.2020, 01.07.2020 and 01.01.2021, an amount of ₹34,402.32 crores approximately has been saved,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Rajya Sabha.
“The decision to freeze DA and DR was taken in the context of covid-19 caused economic disruption so as to ease pressure on government finances,” Sitharaman said. “There was no salary cut or DA cut in respect of subordinate employees. The received salary and DA in full. Only further increase in DA was frozen from 01.01.2020 to 30.06.2021,” Sitharaman added.
After the freeze was removed on July 21, the DA and DR allowances have seen three increases.
The government pays DA to its employees to compensate for the increase in the cost of living due to inflation. DR is the same as allowance and is given to central government pensioners.
