NEW DELHI: The Finance Ministry on Thursday has decided to put on hold increment in dearness allowance (DA) for 50 lakh central government employees and 61 lakh pensioners till July 2021 due to the COVID-19 crisis. However, DA and dearness relief (DR) at current rates will continue to be paid.
The Department of Expenditure said in an office memorandum, "In view of the crisis arising out of COVID-19, it has been decided that additional instalment of dearness allowance payable to central government employees and dearness relief (DR) to central government pensioners due from January 1, 2020, shall not be paid.
"The additional instalment of DA and DR due from July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021, shall also not be paid," it read.
"No arrears for the period from January 1, 2020 to 30 June, 2021 shall be made," it further read.
The decision will hit the income of around 48.34 lakh Central government employees and 65.26 lakh pensioners.

DA For Central Government Employees & DR For Pensioners Freeze At Current Rate Till July 2021 || Department of Expenditure Order Dtd. 23.04.2020https://t.co/R4RHrsBkur pic.twitter.com/NIZQaZ46Q2
— DOPTechshala (@DTechshala) April 23, 2020

The DA hike for all Central government employees came into effect from January 1, 2020. The Union Cabinet had approved a 4 per cent increase in DA for government employees and pensioners to 21 per cent. With this decision, the 4 per cent hike has been put on hold.
According to media reports, the combined savings of DA and DA of current financial year and 2021-22 would be Rs 37,530 crore. The savings of the Centre and states in total would stand at Rs 1.20 lakh crore, which will used to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move follows as the number of coronavirus cases in India has rose to 21,393, while 4,257 people have been cured. The death toll stood at 681.

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