Odisha govt announces 5% DA hike for employees  

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced a hike of 5 per cent Dearness Allowance (DA) for government employees.

The DA hike will be implemented with retrospective effect from January 1, 2020, said a statement from the Chief Minister's Office.

The decision will benefit around 3.5 lakh state government employees, said sources.

The state government also announced to clear the 10 per cent arrears pending on account of retrospective implementation of 7th Pay Commission's recommendations with effect from January 1, 2016 to August 31, 2017.

With this, the employees can now get 10 per cent of their arrear salary arising out of revision of pay under Odisha Revised Scales of Pay Rules (ORSP)-2017, during the financial year 2019-20.

Earlier, the government had disbursed 40% of the total arrear for the period from January 1, 2016 to August 31, 2017, during the financial year 2017-18, said sources.-IANS