Agartala, October 6: The Tripura government on Tuesday announced a three per cent increase in dearness allowance and dearness relief (DA-DR) for its employees and pensioners, raising the total rate to 44 per cent of basic pay.
Chief Minister Manik Saha made the announcement at a press conference at the state secretariat and said the revised DA-DR would come into effect from October 1.
The increase will result in an additional annual financial burden of around Rs 300 crore on the state exchequer, Saha said.
“With the increase, the gap between the DA-DR of state government employees and that of their counterparts under the Centre will come down to 16 per cent,” he said.
The government has also revised the house rent allowance (HRA) for regular employees from 8 per cent to 10 per cent of basic pay, effective October 1.
The revised HRA will entail an additional annual expenditure of Rs 141.96 crore. The maximum ceiling for HRA has also been increased substantially from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000, the chief minister said.
Saha said his government had taken several measures to improve the financial and service-related benefits of government employees since assuming office in 2018.
The fitment factor was increased from 2.25 to 2.57 during this period, resulting in an increase of around 14.22 per cent in basic pay, he said.
DA-DR has also been revised at various stages and has increased by 38 per cent since 2022, Saha said.
He said the government would consider further measures for employees while keeping in view the state’s financial position.
On the proposed Eighth Pay Commission, Saha said the state government had decided to constitute a pay commission and would take further steps after balancing the interests of employees with the state’s financial capacity.
The government has also amended provisions relating to earned leave. Employees with more than 285 days but up to 300 days of accumulated earned leave will be allowed to preserve the next 15 days separately as advance leave, he said.
Saha said the Promotion Policy, 2021, was introduced to address long-pending promotion issues and facilitate ad hoc promotions.
Under conditions laid down in a December 1, 2025 decision, employees receiving ad hoc promotions under the policy will have their service and retirement benefits counted as applicable to regular promotion from the relevant date, he said.
The chief minister also highlighted 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs and steps taken to streamline the die-in-harness system.
Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy was present at the press conference.
