Chief Minister Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha today announced an additional 3 percent DA and DR for state government employees and pensioners, and an increase in House Rent Allowance to 10 percent of basic pay for regular government employees. He made this announcement at a press conference held at the press conference hall of the Secretariat today.
The Chief Minister said that with the additional 3 percent DA-DR, the total dearness allowance will increase to 44 percent. This enhanced DA-DR will be effective from October 1, 2026, and will result in an additional annual expenditure of about Rs 300 crore for the government. As a result, the gap in DA-DR between central government and state government employees will reduce to 16 percent. At the same time, HRA for regular employees has been increased from 8 percent to 10 percent of basic pay. This will result in an additional annual expenditure of Rs 141.96 crore. The maximum limit of HRA has been increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000 and the enhanced rate will also be effective from October 1.
The Chief Minister said that since the present government took charge in 2018, special importance has been given to providing various benefits to government employees. During this period, to improve the pay structure of employees, the fitment factor has been increased from 2.25 to 2.57, resulting in an increase in basic pay by about 14.22 percent. Besides, DA-DR has been increased at various times. Among these, since 2022 till now, 38 percent DA-DR has been increased. He said that necessary steps will be taken in future in the interest of employees within the financial capacity of the state.
Regarding the 8th Pay Commission, the Chief Minister said that the state government has also decided to constitute a pay commission and further steps will be taken keeping in mind the interests of employees and the financial condition of the state. He said that important changes have been made through amendments regarding leave of employees. If earned leave is more than 285 days but 300 days or less, a provision has been made to separately reserve 15 days of advance leave, so that the earned leave of employees is not wasted unnecessarily. To resolve the long-standing promotion bottleneck, the Promotion Policy, 2021 was introduced, providing an opportunity for ad-hoc promotion. He said that as per the decision of December 1, 2025, on a conditional basis, employees who have received ad-hoc promotion under this policy will be considered as regular promotion from the respective date in terms of service and retirement benefits, said Chief Minister Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha. Moreover, he also informed in the press conference that 33 percent reservation for women in government jobs has been introduced and the Die-in-Harness system has been streamlined. He further said that special importance is also being given to the training of state civil service officers. Through SIPARD, opportunities are being provided for training in institutions like Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, IIM Kolkata and BIPARD. Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy was also present at today’s press conference.
