DA Hike- Good news for state government employees. The Arunachal Pradesh government has approved a 2 per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) effective from January 1, 2025. The hike will take the existing rate from 53 per cent of basic pay and pension to 55 per cent.This adjustment will benefit All India Service (AIS) officers serving in or posted under the state government as well as central government employees on deputation, state government employees, pensioners and family pensioners.

The financial impact of this revision is expected to be around Rs 73.22 crore over the next 14 months, with a monthly cost of Rs 5.23 crore. For the initial four months from January to April 2025, Rs 20.80 crore will be spent on DA and Rs 0.12 crore on DR, taking the total expenditure for this period to Rs 20.92 crore.To provide immediate financial relief, the government has decided to distribute the arrears in cash to employees and pensioners.

The revised DA and DR rates will be reflected in the monthly salary and pension payments from May 2025.Chief Minister Pema Khandu expressed his appreciation to the government employees and highlighted that this decision underlines the government’s commitment to employee welfare. He also hoped that the move will inspire more dedication and hard work from the state employees.

The new rates will be applicable from January 2025, so the arrears from January to April 2025 will be paid in cash along with the salary of May, which will be received in June. This will benefit 68,000 employees and 33,000 pensioners. Till now the DA of these states has increased
The central government increased the rates of dearness allowance and relief of central employees and pensioners by 2%, after which DA has increased from 53% to 55% from January 2025. After the Center, now the state governments have also started announcing DA hike.