Jaipur, Oct 24 (IANS): The Rajasthan government has decided to increase the Dearness Allowance (DA) of government employees and pensioners by 3 per cent.

The Finance Department has issued orders after which the employees’ and pensioners’ DA has been increased from 50 per cent to 53 per cent. The increase in DA will be applicable from July 1, said officials on Thursday.

This increase in DA from July 1 to October 31 will be deposited in the General Provident Fund (GPF) account of the employees. However, increased DA will be paid along with the salary from November 1. Pensioners will also be paid the increased DA from July 1 itself. They shall get the arrears of the increased DA along with their pension.

The government has also decided to give salary to the employees on 30th October due to Diwali. This decision of the government will benefit more than 8 lakh employees of the state.

Earlier, the state government announced a Diwali bonus to the employees which will benefit about 6 lakh employees.

Except for the state service officers, employees up to grade pay-4800 or pay level L-12 will come under the purview of bonus.

Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad employees will also get a bonus.

Every employee will get a maximum bonus of up to Rs 6774, out of which 75 per cent money will be deposited in cash and 25 per cent in the employee's General Provident Fund (GPF) account. The bonus will put a burden of about Rs 500 crore on the government.

Central government employees on Wednesday finally got a festive boost after the Centre decided to give away a 3 per cent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) effective July 1, 2024.

In March, after a 4 per cent increase, the DA was at 50 per cent of basic pay. After a 3 per cent hike on October 16, 2024, the DA will be now at 53 per cent of basic pay.