Andhra Pradesh Government Orders Releasing Dearness Allowance Before LS Poll Announcement

Less than 24 hours before the announcement of the Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections schedule, the state government issued orders for releasing dearness allowance to employees pertaining to multiple time periods.

Special Chief Secretary (Finance) Shamsher Singh Rawat issued a government order on Friday night for the release of DA to government employees for the period from July 1, 2019 to Dec 31, 2021.

He issued orders for the release of DA with effect from January 1, 2022 to eligible government employees.

Also, the Special Chief Secretary said the government has issued orders to release DA raising it from 22.75% to 26.39% of the basic pay with effect from July 1, 2022.

Similarly, the state government issued orders to revise the DA for government employees from 26.39% to 30.03% of the basic pay with effect from Jan 1, 2023.

The state government issued orders to revise DA rates with respect to employees drawing revised UGC Pay Scales, 2006 from 212% to 221% of the basic pay with effect from January 1, 2023.

The government also issued orders to revise DA rates with respect to employees drawing revised UGC Pay Scales, 2016 from 38% to 42% of the basic pay with effect from Jan 1, 2023.

The state government will pay these DAs in cash with the salaries of April and May while the DA arrears for the period from Jan 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024 will be paid in three equal instalments in the months of August and Nov, 2024 and Feb, 2025.

Further, Rawat said the arrears for OPS employees will be credited to their General Provident Fund accounts and for employees who joined after Sept 1, 2004 it will be in cash.

According to Rawat, balance arrears of employees who would be retiring from service during the period of arrears payment shall be paid along with their retirement benefits.