OPS demands DA hike for TN government employees

Chennai: AIADMK coordinator and former chief minister O Panneerselvam on Sunday urged the DMK government to hike Dearness Allowance (DA) for the state government employees and its pensioners.

The deputy opposition leader's statement came against the backdrop of the recent Union government's announcement of a hike in dearness allowance (DA) for central government employees.

The increase in DA will not only benefit central government employees but will also benefit its pensioners and family pensioners getting pensions from the Centre. Panneersevam pointed out that the then State government in 2020 announced a hike in DA after Centre had implemented it.

"Now the Union government has announced that the DA has been hiked by 3%, bringing it to 34% from 31% earlier and the increment is effective from January 1, 2022", he added.

The AIADMK leader claimed that due to the change of government in the state, employees are getting only 31% DA from January 1, 2022.

"Tamil Nadu government is yet to announce the hike, despite it was mentioned in the state budget", he said.

He said as the situation from the COVID-19 pandemic came to normalcy and the revenue of the exchequer has also increased, state government employees were expecting to increase their DA to 34% as per the Centre's norms.

"Therefore, the chief minister has to immediately intervene for taking steps to announce the DA increment from 31% to 34% for the state government employees", he said.