Overview
- A 90-minute meeting on Sep 19 between Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and 12 union representatives produced an agreement to raise dearness allowance by 8 percentage points.
- The 8% increase will be paid in two instalments of 4% each with the first instalment to be reflected in the September salary payable on October 1.
- About four lakh employees and 3.5 lakh pensioners will benefit from the move, which the government says will add roughly Rs 1,750 crore to this year’s expenditure for the remaining months.
- The settlement ends a weeks-long mass casual leave protest that began in late August after a Punjab and Haryana High Court order to clear Rs 14,191 crore in pending DA dues sparked intensified agitation.
- Key demands remain unresolved: unions still seek the full 18% DA, payment of arrears ordered by the court, restoration of the old pension scheme and equalisation of pay structures, and political opponents have criticised the partial deal while the state’s appeal is pending in the Supreme Court.