Federation of Central Universities Teachers' Associations (FEDCUTA) has urged the Central Government to review its decision of freezing dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) and said it tantamounts to wage cut.
The finance ministry on Thursday decided to put on hold increment in DA for 50 lakh Central Government employees and DR for 61 lakh pensioners till July 2021 as the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant halt in economic activity have put the government's finances under strain. The government will, however, continue to pay the DA and DR at existing rates.
"The FEDCUTA is concerned at the decision of the Government of India freezing the Dearness Allowance (DA) of Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) of Central Government Pensioners at current levels till July 2021, which will also impact teaching and non-teaching staff of Central Universities and their affiliated Colleges, the teachers' body said in a statement on Sunday.
"... All of this suggests that government is perhaps taking advantage of the current crisis to impose an unjustified pay cut on employees in order to balance its books," it said.
Dearness Allowance is calculated as a percentage of basic salary and paid to government employees, public sector employees and pensioners to mitigate the impact of inflation. And Dearness Relief is a percentage of the basic pension or family pension that accrues to the pensioners.
"In view of the crisis arising out of COVID-19, it has been decided that additional installment of dearness allowance payable to central government employees and dearness relief to central government pensioners due from January 1, 2020, shall not be paid. The additional installment of DA and DR due from July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021, shall also not be paid," the Department of Expenditure said in an office memorandum on Thursday.
On Friday, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the centre's decision to stop the hike in DA and DR to all government employees and pensioners in view of the country's financial situation amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.
In a sharply-worded tweet Mr Gandhi criticised the "inhuman and insensitive decision" and reminded the government crores of rupees could be recouped by suspending the ambitious bullet train project and the Central Vista beautification scheme.
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