7th Pay Commission latest news today: Even as central government employees wait, Dearness Allowance (DA) of these 18,000 employees hiked

7th Pay Commission latest news today: Even as central government employees are still waiting for a hike in dearness allowance (DA) under the aegis of 7th Pay Commission, 18,000 employees in Himachal Pradesh will get their enhanced salary from October, 2019. The State Electricity Board has notified 4 per cent DA hike for its 18,000 employees who will also get arrears of DA from January to July. Notably, there are about 2.5 lakh state government employees in Himachal Pradesh. The DA for other employees has also been notified.

Meanwhile, the state Electricity Board has stated that the arrears of August will be added to the salary of September month. However, pensioners have to wait as the notification to give lump sum amount of DA arrears for six months has yet not been issued.

Gift for regular employees

This step by government follows Chief Minister Jairam Thakur announcing the gift of enhanced DA to the state's nearly 2.5 lakh government employees late last month. According to the government data, as of March 31, 2017, there were more than 1.75 lakh regular employees in the state, while the number of non-regular employees stood at over 42,000.

7th pay commission pay scale yet to be implemented

However, Himachal Pradesh follows the recommendations of the Punjab Pay Commission. Punjab is yet to implement the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission report. The Himachal Pradesh government has stated that it will implement the 7th CPC only after it is implemented in Punjab.

Dearness allowance at 148%

With the current hike of dearness allowance, the Himachal Pradesh government employees will now get 148% DA. Earlier, the government had increased it by 4%, which was applicable from July 1, 2018. After that hike, the DA rate increased at 144%.

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Notably, the central government employees are still waiting for the DA hike of 5% since July 2019. Now, it is being expected that the Centre will announce the same in this month.