Will the central government employees and pensioners get arrears for the dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) suspended for 18 months during the COVID-19 pandemic? Parliamentarians questioned the administration about its plans to reinstate the 18 months of dearness allowance that were deducted from the pensions and benefits of central government employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The third-largest economy in the world was unable to discharge the retained arrears, therefore the MPs asked the government to explain themselves. The MPs also requested specifics regarding the actions taken and the representations made in this regard between 2024 and the present.
Answering "whether the government is actively considering to release 18 months dearness allowance /relief of central government employees/pensioners which were withheld during COVID outbreak," Pankaj Chaudhary, Union Minister of State (Finance) said, "No".
Explaining the rationale behind it, Chaudhary said in his written reply in the Parliament, "The decision to freeze three installments of Dearness Allowance {(DA)/Dearness Relief (DR) to Central Government employees/pensioners due from 01.01.2020, 01.07.2020 & 01.01.2021 was taken in the context of COVID-19, which caused economic disruption, to ease pressure on Government finances...As the adverse financial impact of the pandemic in 2020 and the financing of welfare measures taken by the Government had a fiscal spillover beyond FY 2020-21, arrears of DA/DR were not considered feasible."
Replying to whether the government has received representations from unions on this topic, Chaudhary said, "Representations have been received during 2024 from Government employees’ associations including the National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery (NCJCM)."
Earlier Chaudhary said in the Lok Sabha in 2023, "... an amount of Rs 34,402.32 crore had been saved and utilized to tide over the economic impact of Covid-19 pandemic on account of freezing of three instalments of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief payable to Central Government employees and pensioners."
The government saved Rs 34,402.32 crore as a result of the freezing of the three DA installments. The Centre used the cash to offset the COVID-19 pandemic's financial effects.
