Jharkhand Government Hikes DA For Its Employees To 58% Just Before Diwali

The Jharkhand government on Tuesday hiked the dearness allowance (DA) of its employees to 58% ahead of Diwali, officials said. The dearness relief (DR) for pensioners was also increased by 3 percentage points to 58%, they said.

Earlier, employees and pensioners used to get 55% DA and DR. The hike will be effective from July 1, officials said.

The decision, which will benefit 3 lakh state government employees and pensioners, was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren. A total of 24 proposals were passed by the cabinet.

Among them was a proposal to buy 207 Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances to strengthen healthcare services in remote areas. A total of Rs 103.5 crore would be spent for the purpose, officials said.

The cabinet also gave its nod to Rs 78.50 crore for the purchase of 628 four-wheelers and 849 two-wheelers for the police.

The Cabinet approved a proposal to decide reservation for ST, SC and OBC for urban local bodies on basis of Triple Test.

The Triple-Test Formula was laid down by the Supreme Court in 2010. According to it, states would set up a commission, collect data of the community, and allocate a quota to them in local bodies in such a manner that the total reservation does not exceed 50 per cent.

The issues of notifying the 341.68 square kilometers of protected forests under West Singhbhum district as the Saranda Wildlife Sanctuary and declaring a 1-km periphery as an eco-sensitive zone were also discussed during the meeting.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren said a discussion on Saranda forest was also discussed during the meeting, as the state has to file a response in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

“Consensus was reached on the point that first and foremost, it's about the people living in the Saranda area. We also said that no injustice should be done to the people living in our forest areas and that under no circumstances should they be displaced or removed from the forest area,” CM told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

The CM said the Forest Rights Act should remain protected for them and there should be no displacement.

“Whether it is the central or state government, they should be able to avail the benefits of all schemes,” he added.

However, neither the CM nor the cabinet secretary clarified the cabinet’s decision to notify the Saranda forest region as a wildlife sanctuary.

The Supreme Court on October 8 asked the Jharkhand government to take a decision within seven days to declare ecologically rich Saranda forest region a wildlife sanctuary.

The state government, in its affidavit, had earlier said it proposed to notify an area of 57,519.41 hectares as against the original proposal of 31,468.25 hectares as the wildlife sanctuary.