Andhra Pradesh Government Hikes DA: The Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday announced a hike in the dearness allowance (DA) for the state government employees after several BJP-ruled states including Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and others announced a 4 per cent increase in the dearness allowance for the state government employees. In a significant move ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Andhra Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy gifted the government employees of the state an increase in the DA.

As per information, the Andhra Pradesh government has issued orders for the release of dearness allowance (DA) to its employees, covering multiple time periods.

Special Chief Secretary issued a government order for the release of DA

Special Chief Secretary (Finance) Shamsher Singh Rawat issued a government order (GO) on Friday night for the release of DA to government employees for the period from July 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021.

He issued orders for the release of DA with effect from January 1, 2022 to eligible government employees.

Also, the Special Chief Secretary said the government has issued orders to release DA raising it from 22.75 per cent to 26.39 per cent of the basic pay with effect from July 1, 2022.

Similarly, the state government issued orders to revise the DA for government employees from 26.39 per cent to 30.03 per cent of the basic pay with effect from January 1, 2023.

The state government issued orders to revise DA rates with respect to employees drawing revised UGC Pay Scales, 2006 from 212 per cent to 221 per cent of the basic pay with effect from January 1, 2023.

The government also issued orders to revise DA rates with respect to employees drawing revised UGC Pay Scales, 2016, from 38 per cent to 42 per cent of the basic pay with effect from January 1, 2023.

The state government will pay these DAs in cash with the salaries of April and May while the DA arrears for the period from January 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024 will be paid in three equal installments in the months of August and November, 2024 and February, 2025.

Further, Rawat said the arrears for OPS employees will be credited to their General Provident Fund (GPF) accounts and for employees who joined after September 1, 2004 it will be in cash.

According to Rawat, balance arrears of employees who would be retiring from service during the period of arrears payment shall be paid along with their retirement benefits.