Ahead of the festive season, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab on Friday announced an 8% dearness allowance (DA) increase for government employees and pensioners, taking it to 50%, and bringing an end to a three-week agitation by government staffers. The DA will be released in two instalments of 4% each.
He added that all employee-related issues had not been resolved completely and that both sides had agreed to hold another meeting in October to discuss the remaining demands. The combined 8% DA, which has been backdated to July 2023, will be disbursed on October 1 along with the September salary. The decision was announced after an hour-long meeting between chief minister Bhagwant Mann, cabinet ministers Aman Arora and Baljit Kaur, and 12 representatives of the Sanjha Mulazim Manch. Speaking after the meeting, Arora said the decision would put an additional burden of around ₹ 231 crore on the state exchequer.
He added that further action would be decided after the proposed meeting with the CM in the first week of October. All employees’ unions would also meet shortly to assess the government’s decision. Satish Rana, who represented pensioners in the forum, said the government had also agreed to withdraw disciplinary notices issued against employees who remained absent on August 27 and September 8. Earlier reporting noted: Punjab Government Announces 8% DA Hike Ahead Of 2027 Polls Punjab Government Announces 8% DA Hike Ahead Of 2027 Polls Punjab Government Announces 8% DA Hike Ahead Of 2027 Polls Earlier reporting noted: Relations between the government and sections of the employee community have remained contentious Relations between the government and sections of the employee community have remained contentious Earlier reporting noted: The Bhagwant Mann government’s decision to increase Dearness Allowance by 8 per cent for around 8 lakh government employees and pensioners comes as a significant relief for the ruling AAP at a time when employees’ grievances have emerged as a persistent political challenge.
Later, in a post on X, the CM said he had held a “very positive meeting” with employee and pensioner organisations. He said employees were “an important part of our family” and that, keeping their welfare in mind, the government had decided to increase the DA by 8%, with the benefit to reflect in the October salary. Mann said the meeting also covered several long-pending issues inherited from previous governments, including the old pension scheme (OPS), salaries during the probation period and issues concerning ASHA and Mid-Day Meal workers. He said he would meet employee representatives again in the first week of October to work towards a permanent resolution of the outstanding issues. Following the meeting, Sushil Kumar Fauji, president of the Civil Secretariat Employees’ Union, said the Sanjha Mulazim Manch had suspended its protest. Sukhchain Singh Khehra, head of the Civil Secretariat Employees’ Union, said employees had accepted the government’s immediate offer while keeping the possibility of further negotiations open.
However, the forum rejected the government’s request to submit an affidavit before the high court stating that all disputes had been resolved.
