With Diwali round the corner, Punjab Government on Friday gifted bonanza for its employees announcing the much-awaited eight per cent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) payable to State Government employees and pensioners which was due from January 2013.
The increased DA would be affected from July 1, 2013, which would further enhance the DA to 80% from present 72% of the basic pay, said an official spokesman. State Government employees have been pressing the Government for disbursing DA. Spokesman said that the enhanced DA would be paid along with the pay from Oct month and the remaining enhanced DA from July 2013 to September 2013 would be paid in cash to employees and pensioners. The spokesman clarified that the decision about the pending payment of enhanced DA from January to June 2013 would be taken later.