AP govt. hikes Drought Allowance to the employees in the state

The government of Andhra Pradesh has given good news to state government employees and pensioners. The Finance Ministry on Saturday issued separate orders raising the drought allowance (DA) by 3.144%. The orders state that the DA hike will be effective from January 1, 2019. However, it clarified that the inflated DA would be paid in three installments from July 2021. With the latest decision, the DA of employees has increased from 30.392% to 33.536% on basic pay. The orders said the increase would be 5.24% for pensioners from July 1, 2019.

It has been revealed that it will be paid from January 2022. Combined with the latest hike, the pensioners' DA will rise to 38.776 percent from January next year. Currently, the DA for pensioners is 33.536%. Meanwhile, the government has given another GO to continue the 30 percent HRA given to employees who have moved from Hyderabad after the bifurcation of the state. DA is deposited in GPF accounts for those in the OPS policy. 90% of CPS employees are paid, 10% is credited to the PRAN account.

According to the latest orders, the DA has to be paid in August along with the July salary. However, the respective DDOs will send the salary bills of the employees for July to the Finance Ministry by the 20th. Until now the government has not given the GO and the DDOs have sent bills only for the wages which were in force in the past.

In this context, questions arise as to how the DA can be paid in conjunction with July salaries. According to the latest orders, if the bills are filed in August, the employees will receive DA along with the salaries paid in September.