7th Pay Commission: The Railway Board has announced that it has revised the dearness allowance for its employees from 42 percent to 46 percent of the basic pay effective from July 1, 2023.
In a circular from the Board dated October 23, 2023, to the General Managers and Chief Administrative Officers of All India Railways and Production Units stated, “…the President is pleased to decide that the Dearness Allowance payable to Railway Employees shall be enhanced from the existing rate of 42% to 46% of the Basic Pay with effect from 1st July, 2023.”
It defined the ‘Basic Pay’ as the pay drawn as per 7th CPC recommendation accepted by the government, “but doesn’t include any other time of pay like special pay etc.”
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The employees will get the enhanced DA with arrears from July in their next salary. Welcoming the board’s decision, Shiva Gopal Mishra, General Secretary of All India Railwaymen’s Federation, said, “The DA was due to the employees from July so it was the employees’ right to get it. However, I welcome the decision to announce its payment before Diwali,” as quoted by PTI.
M Raghavaiah, General Secretary of the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen, said DA is paid on the basis of the Consumer Price Index and its purpose is to neutralise inflation.
“It is okay that the Railway Board has timely announced it, however, we continue to press our demand for the payment of DA from January 2020 to June 2021 which the government froze due to Covid-19,” he said as quoted by the agency.
Meanwhile, the Railway Board’s announcement came just five days after the Union Cabinet approved an around ₹15,000 cr bonus, that included a 4 percent hike in DA for government employees, the increase which was in accordance with the accepted formula, based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.
Meanwhile, earlier, Diwali bonuses for Group C and non-gazetted Group B level officials, including paramilitary forces, was approved by the government. For 2022–2023, the finance ministry has set a limit of ₹7,000 for the calculation of non–productivity linked bonuses (ad hoc bonuses) for central government employees.
As per the memorandum, the Department of Expenditure under the finance ministry said a non-productivity linked bonus (ad-hoc bonus) equivalent to 30 days emoluments for the accounting year 2022-23 has been granted to the central government employees in Group ‘C’ and all non-gazetted employees in Group B’, who are not covered by any productivity-linked bonus scheme.
(With inputs from PTI)
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