Tripura working to reduce DA gap: Tripura Finance Minister

The state government of Tripura is working to gradually reduce the gap in Dearness Allowance (DA) for its employees, said Tripura Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy in the Legislative Assembly today. 

He was responding to a notice raised by Congress MLA Gopal Roy during the mention session.

The Finance Minister stated that keeping the state’s financial resources in mind, steps are being taken to narrow the DA gap. 

He added that the government is also making efforts to ensure regular promotions for employees after completing all necessary legal processes. A permanent mechanism for granting promotions is expected to be introduced soon.
Minister Roy highlighted that the state government has already raised the fitment factor from 2.25 to 2.57 in line with the Central Government’s 7th Pay Commission. This led to a 14.22% increase in employees’ basic pay, which benefits them further with every DA hike.

He reminded the House that even during the COVID-19 period, the state government announced Dearness 
Relief (DR) for employees and pensioners, and introduced cash in lieu of LTC. Earlier, there was no policy to regularize fixed-pay employees, even if they served more than 8–10 years in different posts. The current government revised this policy, allowing employees to become eligible for regularization after five years of continuous service, even if served across multiple posts.
The Finance Minister also said that due to legal complications, promotions were stalled for a long time. Through the introduction of ad-hoc promotions, the present government has provided employees with promotional benefits. A policy is also being prepared to extend the benefits of the Chief Minister’s Jan Arogya Yojana to all government employees.

He further stated that the retirement age of TSR (Tripura State Rifles) jawans has been increased from 58 to 60 years, while ration money and dress allowance for TSR and police personnel have been raised. 
“The monthly pension of Home Guards has been tripled. Additionally, the festival advance for employees has been increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000, while the festival grant has been tripled compared to 2018”, he added