Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday referred to the issue of more holidays for state government employees compared to their central counterparts while talking on the issue of difference in dearness allowances of the two sets of employees.

Though it was not clear whether she was linking lower dearness allowance for the Bengal government employees — a pet peeve that has prompted a section of them to go on a warpath with the government — to higher number of leaves that they enjoy, her comments on the issue made it apparent that the state administration is worried about the furore over the dearness allowance issue.

“The pay scale of the state government employees and the central government employees are different... Furthermore, we give more holidays to our employees compared to the centre. We try to do whatever possible,” said the chief minister at the state Assembly on Monday.

The employees unions are claiming that the state government employees are currently getting 32 percent less DA compared to their central government counterparts and they want it to be bridged.

After the high court gave a verdict in favour of their demand, the state went to the Supreme Court challenging it. The matter is likely to come up for hearing on March 15. As part of an attempt to convince the apex court that the state government is keen on giving DA, a 3 per cent DA was announced on the day the state budget was placed.

After mentioning the DA hike, the chief minister tried to elaborate on the government’s attempt to ensure more leisure for the employees.

“How many leaves does the centre give? We give 10 days leave during Durga Puja. We also give leave on Chhat Puja,” the chief minister said.

It is a fact that since the Trinamul came to power in 2011, the state government employees get at least 10 additional days of leaves compared to what they used to get during the Left Front tenure.

For example, the state employees get at least 4 days of additional leave during Durga Puja and 3 days additional leave during Kali Puja. Not just mentioning the leaves, the chief minister also spoke about the other HR innovations made for the state government employees during her tenure.

Sources said that the chief minister tried her best to reach out to the employees for two reasons.

First, the agitation by a joint platform of employees’ unions has been gaining momentum. Second, she cannot afford to annoy the employees, who will play an active role in holding panchayat polls.