Shimla
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, has ordered the Finance Department to grant arrears to all pensioners aged 75 years and above, effective from January 1, 2016. Following these orders, 22.50 percent of eligible pensioners and family pensioners in the state will benefit from this provision. The amount will be credited to their accounts with the pension on October 28, four days before Diwali. The Finance Department has directed the Pension Distribution Authority (PDA) banks and Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) to ensure timely payments. Additionally, orders have also been issued for the disbursement of an extra 4 percent Dearness Allowance (DA) to all 1.70 lakh pensioners and family pensioners from January 2023. This will raise the DA for pensioners from 38 percent to 42 percent.
There will be an additional burden of 600 crore rupees on the government treasury. The Finance Department has issued orders to grant DA to employees and pensioners simultaneously, which will lead to this extra financial strain. However, there has been no announcement yet regarding the arrears for the DA effective from July 1, 2022, and January 2023. The pending amount of these two DA arrears for employees and pensioners is around 1000 crore rupees. Furthermore, the government has announced that NPS (National Pension System) employees will receive DA equivalent to that given to central government employees. The Chief Minister has also issued orders for the payment of salaries and pensions for employees of boards and corporations on October 28. This decision will benefit approximately 50,000 employees and pensioners from the boards and corporations.
The Finance Department has also issued orders for a payment of 20,000 rupees in arrears to Group-D or fourth-class employees. All formalities for this have been completed, and cash payment will be made this month. Similarly, a one-time payment of around 202 crore rupees for medical bills will be made in the coming times.
