7th Pay Commission: DA hike announced in early March, but why some employees and pensioners await revised pay and arrears?

financialexpress.com:

Every year, the Centre announces dearness allowance (DA) hike twice: usually in March and again in September or October. However, more than one crore central government employees and pensioners are given the hike effective January and July every year, along with arrears.

Like previous years, this year also DA hike was announced in March. The government announced a 4% hike in dearness allowance and dearness relief for employees and pensioners. With this hike, the DA stands at 50% of the basic pay, against 46% earlier.

Since the announcement was made earlier in March this year, employees and pensioners were expecting an increase in their March month’s salary due to the DA hike. However, not all employees and pensioners received the revised pay in March; a section of them received the same salary as the previous month.

As this year, the announcement was made early in March, employees and pensioners were expecting their March month’s salary to come with an increased amount with a DA hike component. But all employees and pensioners have not received the March month’s pay with the revision and a section of them saw the same salary credited in their bank accounts. Now, those who have not received the DA hike and arrears are waiting for their April month salary, expecting an increase.

Also Read: 7th Pay Commission update: Good news for central govt employees! 6 allowances revised

Santosh Sahu, a retired armed forces personnel, responded to a query about the DA hike, stating to FE Digital that he was expecting an increased pension for March, including arrears. However, to his disappointment, he did not receive the hiked pension. Nevertheless, he is hopeful that he would receive a revised pension for April along with the arrears