DA Hike: Great news arrived for government employees and pensioners on Monday. Tripura’s Chief Minister Manik Saha announced a significant 5 percent increase in the dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) for state government employees and pensioners, raising the total dearness allowance from 36 percent to 41 percent. This announcement came shortly after Tripura’s Finance Minister Pranjit Singha Roy concluded his budget speech, with Chief Minister Saha stating that the new DA and DR rates will take effect from April 1, 2026.
Chief Minister Saha mentioned that this decision will positively impact 102,563 regular employees and 81,019 pensioners in the state by increasing their DA and DR. He remarked, “The government will allocate an additional Rs 500 crore each year to provide a 5 percent dearness allowance to government employees. We are consistently working to raise the DA for employees to match that of central government employees.” It’s important to highlight that the central government currently offers a 58 percent DA to its employees, meaning Tripura’s employees are 17 percent behind, which is quite a notable difference.
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On the same day, Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy presented a budget of Rs 34,212.31 crore for the financial year 2026-27, which does not include any new taxes. The budget emphasizes infrastructure development, digital transformation, and rural employment initiatives. This budget reflects a 5.52 percent increase compared to last year’s budget estimate of Rs 32,423 crore.
However, despite the growth in the overall budget, a deficit of Rs 240.72 crore has been projected. To enhance infrastructure development, Roy proposed a capital expenditure of Rs 8,945.92 crore, marking a 13.19 percent increase from the previous year. Opposition members, including former Congress minister Sudip Roy Barman and Leader of the Opposition Jitendra Chowdhury (CPI-M), objected to this, saying the increase in DA and DR should have been included in the Finance Minister’s budget proposals.
What happened to the pending DA-DR dues?
CPI-M Tripura state secretary and Leader of Opposition Jitendra Chowdhury demanded the Chief Minister to clarify the status of pending DA-DR dues of state employees and pensioners. The Chief Minister was trying to respond, but was unable to complete his reply due to uproar over other issues. Acting Speaker Ram Prasad Paul then adjourned the House.
Who will benefit?
According to a Finance Department official, the decision will benefit over 102,563 government employees and 81,019 pensioners. He explained that after coming to power in March 2018, the BJP government revised the pay scales with effect from October 1, 2018, based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.