New Delhi, Jun 26 (UNI) Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Saturday slammed the Union government for not releasing the Dearness Allowance suspended last year, and demanded immediate payment of arrears.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Mr Singhvi said, last year, the Union government took a strange decision of freezing the dearness allowance, affecting 1.5 million people including army staff, pensioners from the armed forces, and serving employees and pensioners of the Central government.
Keeping in mind the interest of those people, the government should immediately release the arrears, he said.
The government's decision of freezing the DA till June 2021 affected not only 1.5 million people, but also eight crore people dependent on them.
When the pandemic was wreaking havoc in the country and each and every family was affected, the government's decision reflected its 'double standards'.
According to a circular dated November 19, the government froze additional DA instalments (due from October 1, 2020) for employees of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) till June 30, 2021. The additional DA from January 1, 2021 to April 1, 2021 will not be paid, the Department of Public Enterprises said.
UNI SV SHK1940