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Sanchita Chatterjee, BS News Agency: **Outstanding DA for Government Employees to be Paid in Two Installments in March and September; Notification Issued Prior to Mamata's Announcement**
Following a long-standing dispute, the West Bengal government has taken a significant step toward clearing the outstanding Dearness Allowance (DA) dues of state government employees and pensioners. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made an announcement regarding this matter on Sunday afternoon, prior to the declaration of the election schedule in the state. Notably, even before her announcement, the Finance Department had issued several notifications and memoranda on March 13, stating that the DA arrears—accrued between April 2008 and December 2019—would be cleared in a phased manner.
It has been stated that this decision was taken in light of a directive issued by the Supreme Court. Following the hearings on the DA case in court, a monitoring committee was constituted to oversee the matter.
According to the Finance Department's notification, in the first phase, the DA arrears calculated for the period spanning from January 2016 to December 2019 will be disbursed in two installments. The first installment is scheduled to be paid within the current month of March, while the second installment will be paid in September of this year.
The DA will be calculated based on the All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI). However, the final decision regarding this calculation will be taken based on the assessment of the monitoring committee.
The notification also outlines the specific procedure through which employees will receive their payments. **Pensioners, too, will receive their arrears.**
A separate notification clarifies that, for current pensioners and retired employees, the outstanding DA—or Dearness Relief (DR)—will be disbursed in a similar phased manner. These funds will be credited directly into their respective bank accounts.
For those who draw their pensions from treasuries located outside Kolkata, the funds will be released through their respective local treasuries. Conversely, for those who receive their pensions through banks, the payments will be disbursed via public sector banks.