M A I N   N E W S

3 per cent hike in DA of Central staff, pensioners
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 17
The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal to hike dearness allowance (DA) for the Central Government employees and dearness relief for pensioners by three per cent.

The DA has been revised from July 1. The government cited rise in inflation as the reason behind the decision to hike DA.

Thus, the rate of DA will be 14 per cent for all Central Government employees against the existing rate of 11 per cent.

The impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and dearness relief would be of Rs 1608.39 crore in a full year and Rs 1072.38 crore in the financial year 2004-05, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

The decision to increase DA coincides with a fall in the rate of inflation to 7.81 per cent for the week ending on September 4 after touching a 8.33 per cent in the previous week.

The Cabinet Committee on Prices today reviewed the price situation in respect of sugar and edible oils, particularly vanaspati, in view of the coming festival season.

The Ministry of Finance has already rationalised the duty structure for edible oils. “This will have direct bearing on the prices of vanaspati, which uses imported crude palm oil as the main input,” Mr Chidambaram said.

He said the overall availability of sugar in coming months would be increased so as to match the increased demand during the festive season.

The government would undertake measured steps, both fiscal and monetary, to address the issue of inflation, he added.