Captain Amarinder Singh‘s government in Punjab, promised to give 6% Dearness Allowance (DA) to around 3.5 lakh government employees and 3 lakh pensioners in the state. The move which is lauded by the state government and members of Congress party has received very dismal reactions from the state employees.
The employees association has accused the Amarinder Singh government of introducing 6% DA, just two months before the general elections 2019, to woo the voters and categorically rejected the 6% allowance, saying that they are just making a shallow promise and does not have enough funds in its treasury fulfill this promise.
“We know the state of finances.But we have stretched our limit to announce a massive 6 per cent DA, payable from February 1″ Punjab’s Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said over the issue. And assured that the promised DA would be credited into the Bank accounts of employees along with their Salaries from February 1.
However the skeptical employees, said that they want the government to first work on its earlier promises and demanded pending DA of last 3 months along with arrears.
Punjab Civil Secretariat Staff Association president Sukhchain Singh Khera said the announcement means nothing to them. “At present, three installments of DA are yet to be paid, besides arrears for 22 months on the unreleased DA. What is the use of making announcements, when the money is not to be paid immediately?” he said.
Now it will be interesting to see how the government of Punjab, which came to power sailing on the boat of high Anti-incumbency will deliver its promise, with a empty treasury and rising fiscal deficit.