Have every wish to pay DA to govt employees: Min

Kolkata: State Water Resources Investigation and Development minister Manas Bhunia on Friday said the state government has every wish to clear the arrears of the Dearness Allowance (DA) and accused the Opposition for trying to engineer protests on the issue.

"We are considerate and very sympathetic to our government employees. However, we have been economically strangulated by the Central government. Over Rs 1.18 lakh crore of our dues are not being cleared by the Centre," Bhunia said adding that over Rs 6,700 crore are due for 100 days' work scheme.

The minister added that Bengal has been awarded several times by the Centre itself for spending the maximum amount of funds for 100 days' work. The highest man-days of 28 crore has been created in Bengal. "1.5 crore odd workers who have been affected due to non-release of funds of MGNREGS in Bengal do not vote for Trinamool Congress alone and could be voters of any political party," Bhunia argued.

Establishing his claim of the government's intention for clearing the arrears of the Dearness Allowance (DA), Bhunia added that despite passing through the Covid situation, the state government had given a hike in DA by 3 percent which came into effect from January 2021. The state government had also accepted the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission that came into effect from January 2020 and the revision in pay as per the recommendation was carried out at a cost of Rs 14,000 crore.