MoS PMO Jitendra Singh slams Cong's criticism of DA freeze, cites example of state govts

MoS PMO Dr.Jitendra Singh lashed out at the Congress party on Sunday for its criticism of the Centre's decision to freeze the Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) at current rates till July 2021. While maintaining that the Narendra Modi government was paying full salary and pension to its employees, he stressed that it was the Congress and non-BJP ruled states which had ordered a deduction or deferment of salaries. For instance, he cited that Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh had directed deferment of the salary of various government officials. 

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No hike in DA and DR rates

The Union Cabinet's decision in March to hike the DA and DR rates from 17% to 21% shall not come into force until July 1, 2021. This call was taken in the wake of the ongoing novel coronavirus crisis. The Ministry of Finance stated that the DA and DR at the current rate of 17% will continue to be paid. Moreover, it has been clarified that no arrears from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, shall be paid even when the Centre decides to release the future installment of DA and DR. In such a scenario, the Ministry of Finance has promised to restore the DA and DR rates applicable from January 1, 2020, prospectively and will be subsumed in the cumulative revised rate effective from July 1, 2021. Nearly 1.13 crore families are expected to be affected by this move. 

Key Congress leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Dr.Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram and Manish Tewari observed that the Centre's move had hurt the interests of 1.1 crore central government employees. Congress contended that withdrawing the DA hike instead of cutting wasteful expenditure was "inhuman" in the wake of the novel coronavirus crisis. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi opined that the Centre was taking money from the middle class and spending it on the Central Vista project.

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