Telangana govt to clear ₹6,174 crore DA arrears in instalments
HYDERABAD: The Telangana government will require ₹6,174 crore to clear arrears of two pending dearness allowances (DAs) for government employees, pensioners and other eligible personnel.
The arrears will be paid in instalments. The two DAs will benefit 6,91,940 employees, pensioners and other personnel. The DAs are due from January 1, 2024 and July 1, 2024.
The first DA has accumulated arrears for 33 months, from January 2024 to September 2026. The arrears amount to ₹3,810 crore. The second DA covers 27 months, from July 2024 to September 2026, and involves ₹2,364 crore, as reported by DC.
Monthly DA payout to add ₹2,500 crore annually
The government will spend around ₹208 crore every month on the two DAs. This will add about ₹2,500 crore a year to the state exchequer.
The two DAs will raise the existing DA by 6.37 percentage points. The government will include the amount in the October salary. Employees will receive it with their salary on November 1.
An employee with a basic pay of ₹1 lakh will get an additional ₹6,370 a month from the two DAs.
The government will also provide a temporary increase of ₹100 a month to part-time assistants and village revenue assistants from January 1, 2024.
If an employee or pensioner dies during the period covered by the DA release order, the government will pay the arrears to the legal heirs along with other outstanding dues.
Five DAs remain pending
The government has five more DAs pending after releasing the first two instalments.
The DA due from January 1, 2024, stands at 3.64%. It will take the cumulative DA to 37.31%.
The DA due from July 1, 2024, stands at 2.73%. It will take the cumulative rate to 40.04%.
The next two DAs, due from January 1, 2025 and July 1, 2025, stand at 1.82% and 2.73%, respectively. They will take the cumulative DA to 44.59%.
The fifth pending DA, due from January 1, 2026, stands at 1.82%. It will take the cumulative DA to 46.41%.
The total DA stood at 33.67% in July 2023. The government adds the DA percentage sanctioned every six months to the cumulative rate. The five pending DAs together account for 12.74 percentage points.
6.91 lakh personnel to benefit
Of the 6,91,940 beneficiaries, 1,34,671 are general provident fund employees. Another 2,21,464 fall under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
The beneficiary list also includes 34,221 employees of grant-in-aid institutions, 2,94,945 pensioners, 5,022 personnel from village establishments and 1,617 full-time contingent employees.
Payment process awaits finance department order
The finance department is expected to issue a special order following the Cabinet decision. The order will clarify the exact payment process for the arrears.
Employee union leaders expect the government to follow its earlier practice of crediting DA arrears to employees’ GPF accounts. During previous DA releases, the government deposited arrears for all eligible months into the respective GPF accounts.
However, union leaders said they will know the exact payment procedure only after the finance department issues the special order.
Total arrears for five DAs at ₹9,276 crore
The finance department’s calculation puts the total arrears for all five pending DAs at ₹9,276 crore, if calculated up to September 2026.
The amount includes ₹3,810 crore for the first DA covering 33 months, ₹2,364 crore for the second DA covering 27 months, ₹1,237 crore for the third DA covering 21 months, ₹1,331 crore for the fourth DA covering 15 months and ₹534 crore for the fifth DA covering nine months.
At present, however, the government is releasing only the first two DAs.
