7th Pay Commission: The Railways Board said the Dearness Allowance payable to Railway Employees will be enhanced from the existing rate of 42% to 46% of the Basic Pay with effect from 1st July, 2023.
7th Pay Commission Latest News: In a festive bonanza that will bring cheers for the Central government employees, the Centre has announced 4% DA hike for the Railways employees and said it will be effective from July 1, 2023. In a statement, the Railway Board said it revised the dearness allowance for its employees from 42 per cent to 46 per cent of the basic pay.
In a written communication on October 23, 2023 to the General Managers and Chief Administrative Officers of All India Railways and Production Units stating, the Railways Board said the President is pleased to decide that the Dearness Allowance payable to Railway Employees shall be enhanced from the existing rate of 42% to 46% of the Basic Pay with effect from 1st July, 2023.
It defined the ‘Basic Pay’ as the pay drawn as per 7th CPC recommendation accepted by the government, “but doesn’t include any other time of pay like special pay etc.”
4% DA Hike Announced For Central Govt Employees
It should be noted that the Railways Board’s announcement comes five days after the Union Cabinet approved an around Rs 15,000 crore bonus, that included a 4 per cent hike in DA for government employees.
Railway Employee Welcome Centre’s Decision
The Railway employee unions welcomed the announcement before Diwali as they will get the enhanced DA with arrears from July in their next salary.
“The DA was due to the employees from July so it was the employees’ right to get it. However, I welcome the decision to announce its payment before Diwali,” Shiva Gopal Mishra, General Secretary of All India Railwaymen’s Federation, said.
M Raghavaiah, General Secretary of the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen, said DA is paid on the basis of the Consumer Price Index and its purpose is to neutralise inflation.
“It is okay that the Railway Board has timely announced it, however, we continue to press our demand for the payment of DA from January 2020 to June 2021 which the government froze due to Covid-19,” he said.
Salary Hiked For Non-Gazetted Railway Staff
Last week, the central government decided to hike the dearness allowance for its employees by 4 percentage points to 46 per cent of the basic salary and pay 78 days of salaries as bonus for non-gazetted railway staff.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur said the increase in dearness allowance and dearness relief will benefit 48.67 lakh central government employees and 67.95 lakh pensioners, respectively.
The release of the additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) will be applicable from July 1, 2023.
Notably, the DA and DR are given twice a year to compensate employees and pensioners, respectively, for price rise. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs 12,857 crore per annum.
