Agartala, July 14 (IANS): The Tripura government on Tuesday announced an additional five percent dearness allowance (DA) for its 209,000 employees and pension holders.

"Despite the state government's financial crunch, the government has released additional five percent of DA for the employees and pensioners," state Finance Minister Bhanulal Saha told reporters after a cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.

To provide the DA, the additional annual spending from the government exchequer would be Rs.162.5 crore.

"Over 209,000 government employees and pensioners would get the new installments of DA from this month," the minister said.

Employees of public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies will also benefit.

State government employees and pensioners had long been demanding from the state government that their DA be equal to that of central government employees.

With this new installment, the DA of state government employees and pensioners rose to 74 percent, while central government employees are getting allowance at 113 percent.