Kolkata, June 22: The newly appointed Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari, has announced a 20% increase in the Dearness Allowance (DA) for state government employees in his first full budget.
Presenting the budget for the fiscal year 2026-27 in the West Bengal Assembly, Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta revealed that the current DA rate of 18% will rise to 38%, effective from October 1.
Despite this increase, the DA for West Bengal government employees will still be lower than that of central government employees, who currently receive a DA of 60%. The central government had raised the DA from 58% to 60% in January this year.
This means that the gap between the DA rates for state and central government employees will remain at 22%. It is also anticipated that the central government may announce another round of DA revisions in July, potentially widening this gap before the state’s revised DA takes effect.
Chief Minister Adhikari welcomed this proposal, stating, “We will provide an additional 20% DA starting from Durga Puja in October. Other matters will be addressed gradually. Please wait for the next budget. We will implement the latest pay commission by December.”
During the previous Trinamool Congress government, a section of state government employees protested for a DA equivalent to that of central government employees, along with the payment of pending dues.
The Trinamool Congress government had announced a 4% increase in DA in the interim budget presented in February this year. At that time, former Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya made the announcement, while former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cited the state’s financial constraints, stating that paying DA at central rates was not mandatory.
A related case is currently pending in the High Court. The BJP government, in its first budget after coming to power, aims to address the concerns of government employees regarding DA.
Additionally, the process for paying the pending DA dues has begun. In the budget documents, Swapan Dasgupta stated, “State government employees, semi-government employees, teachers, and non-teaching staff play a crucial role in implementing government operations and policies. Considering their contributions, I am pleased to announce an additional 20% DA on top of the existing 18% DA, bringing the total to 38%. Pensioners will also receive an additional 20% dearness relief. This increase will take effect from October 1.”
Following this announcement, employee representatives welcomed the move.
Debashish Shil commented, “Our DA has been raised from 18% to 38%. Although it will be implemented in October, I don’t think government employees will object to receiving a 20% increase after three to four months. This is an unprecedented increase. We welcome this budget proposal and hope that despite the heavy financial burden, this government will gradually be able to bring the state’s DA level in line with that of the center.”
Swapan Mandal, General Secretary of the Bengali Teachers and Education Employees Union, expressed satisfaction with the 20% DA increase announced in the budget. However, he suggested it would have been better if it had been implemented from July. He urged the government to resolve the remaining 22% DA issue by December.
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