FACT CHECK: PIB says this about 7th Pay Commission memo on resumption of DA to government employees

Even as lakhs of central government employees and pensioners are waiting for the special meeting which was scheduled for Saturday in regards payment of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) arrears, a "fake" letter signed by Finance Secretary TV Somanathan started making rounds on social media. The document doing the rounds on social media claimed that Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief for Central government employees and pensioners will be resumed from July 2021.

The Press and Information Bureau (PIB) of the Government of India said that the letter, which is going viral on social media, is fake and further truth about the memo is being ascertained.

A document is doing rounds on social media claiming that Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief for Central government employees and pensioners will be resumed from July 2021
#PIBFactCheck: This claim is #Fake. No such announcement has been made by the Government of India. pic.twitter.com/9fsPITQClB

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) June 26, 2021

Meanwhile, the National Council of JCM headed by Central Government Employees (CGS) and central government officials from the Ministry of Finance and Department of Personnel and Training were scheduled for a talk on Saturday, which could actually lead to a decision on the pending DA arrears. The talks were earlier scheduled in May but postponed due to the rising cases of COVID-19. The three installments of dearness allowance for central government employees and DR for pensioners, due on January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021, were frozen in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The employees are going to get the benefit of two years DA directly, because the dearness allowance of the central government employees had increased by 4 per cent in January 2020, then there was an increase of 3 percent in the second half i.e. in June 2020. In January 2021, the dearness allowance increased once again by 4 per cent.

That means the total has gone up to 28 percent. However, these three installments have not yet been paid. As per Zee Business, currently, the minimum salary according to the pay matrix of central employees is Rs 18,000.

Overall, a 15 percent dearness allowance is expected to be added to the salary, which will roughly translate to an increase of Rs 2700 per month. On annual basis, the total dearness allowance will increase by Rs 32,400.