Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Tuesday declared a 12 per cent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) for state government employees and pensioners with effect from December 1.

With this, the state government employees' DA has gone up from 8 per cent to 20 per cent.

"A total of 1,04,600 regular employees and 80,800 pensioners will benefit from the decision. Besides, ... and part-time employees will receive the benefit as their remunerations have been almost doubled", Saha said at a press conference.

The chief minister said the decision of the government to increase the DA/DR by 12 per cent will put an additional amount of Rs 120 crore per month and Rs 1,440 crore per annum.

Saha said, "Despite shortage of resources, the government has revised the salary structures to give benefit to the lakhs of employees and their families".

Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Debbarma, who holds the Finance portfolio, said there has been criticism for not increasing DA for government employees and social pension to the beneficiaries. "The government aims at maximum benefit to the maximum people. We want to set a benchmark for state government employees by taking the courageous step", he said.

To a query how the additional burden of Rs 1,440 crore annually will be managed, the DyCM replied, "This is an art of managing finance effectively amidst resource constraint. A bit of courage and a broad heart are needed to give maximum benefit to the people".

On whether it will be seen as New Year bonanza or poll bonanza, Debbarma said "It is the perception of the people how they look at it".

Assembly elections in the northeastern are due in February next year.

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