Ahead of the EID festival the govt makes a big announcement. Actually there is a great news for government employees and pensioners in West Bengal! The Mamata Banerjee administration has announced a significant benefit for its workforce. The state government has approved a four percent increase in the dearness allowance (DA) for both employees and pensioners, effective from April 1, 2025.
As per the directive from the Finance Department, this increase raises the DA from 14% to 18%. This adjustment will positively impact over 1 million state government employees and pensioners.
Despite this increase, there remains a 35% gap in DA between central and state government employees. Additionally, the DA for teachers and non-teaching staff in government-aided schools, as well as employees of government-owned entities, panchayats, and municipal corporations, has also been raised.
The Finance Minister announced this DA hike during the budget presentation.
West Bengal’s Finance Minister, Chandrima Bhattacharya, unveiled a budget of Rs 3.89 lakh crore for the 2025-26 financial year, which included the announcement of the DA increase for state employees. It’s worth noting that with the assembly elections approaching in 2026, this budget marks the last full one presented by the Mamata government, aimed at garnering support from employees and pensioners through this 4% DA increase.