DA row: Punjab ready to match Centre's salary, DA for employees

Punjab ministers said the state is willing to match the Centre's overall salary and dearness allowance package for employees. Employee unions said talks can move forward if the government drops action over the August 27 strike.Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema. (Photo: X/@HarpalCheemaMLA)Punjab government will ensure salary parity, along with dearness allowance, with central government employees if that is what its employees seek, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said on Thursday. He made it clear that the state is ready to match the Centre’s overall compensation package rather than simply replicate its DA percentage.Cheema also asserted that the state pays the highest salaries to its employees in the country and accused the opposition of trying to mislead people over the dearness allowance of employees and pensioners.PUNJAB SAYS ITS EMPLOYEES GET HIGHEST SALARIESCheema, flanked by Industries and Commerce Minister Aman Arora and Social Security Minister Baljit Kaur, said Punjab employees in several major categories already draw higher take-home salaries than their central government counterparts despite the Centre's higher DA rate.Cabinet minister Arora appealed to employee unions to engage with the government through dialogue rather than confrontation. "Employees are the backbone of good governance. We appeal to the unions to recognise the political opportunism of opposition parties, which made promises before elections without making corresponding financial provisions.We are ready to resolve outstanding issues across the table with Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann so that the interests of employees are protected without placing an unbearable burden on the people of Punjab," he said.PUNJAB DA ROW REACHES SUPREME COURT Remarks of the Punjab ministers came days after the state government moved the Supreme Court challenging a high court order directing it to release all pending dearness allowance and dearness relief dues to state employees and pensioners within a fortnight, contending that the direction to pay arrears totalling around Rs 14,191 crore in such a short period was constitutionally impossible.Cheema also blamed the previous governments for not clearing around Rs 14,000 crore of arrears, while noting that the AAP government has cleared Rs 4,500 crore.EMPLOYEES SEEK PENDING 18% DAGovernment employees, who went on a statewide strike on August 27, have been pressing the state government to accept their various demands, including the release of pending 18 per cent DA.He claimed that basic pay plus DA of the Punjab employees is higher than that of other states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.He further claimed that the salaries of government employees in Gujarat are 28 per cent less than what Punjab government employees are getting.Cheema further claimed that salaries and pension account for 51 per cent of the state's total revenue as against an average 38 per cent in other states.He also cited a comparison of salaries of a clerk, a driver, a teacher and a stenographer in Punjab with that of what these employees get while working for the government of India.The Punjab government is paying higher basic pay to its employees than the Union government, he claimed.Cheema claimed that after the AAP formed the government, it raised the DA of its employees from 28 per cent to 42 per cent."When the AAP formed the government, employees were getting 28 per cent DA. We raised it to 34 per cent in October 2022, then 38 per cent in December 2023 and 42 per cent in 2024," he said as he targeted the opposition parties for spreading propaganda that the AAP government did not pay dues to its employees.60% DA HIKE WOULD COST RS 6,500 CROREArora said that the demand for a mechanical increase of DA to 60 per cent must be considered in the context of Punjab's overall fiscal position."Increasing the DA to 60 per cent would place an additional annual burden of around Rs 6,500 crore on the state exchequer. This financial reality has to be balanced against the state's responsibility to fund schools, hospitals, infrastructure and other essential services for the three crore people of Punjab," he said.Clarifying the legal and statutory position, Kaur said the state's position is based on the Punjab Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2021."The salaries and DA of Punjab government employees are governed by the Punjab Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2021, which were framed under Article 309 of the Constitution. These rules do not prescribe any fixed DA percentage or an automatic formula requiring Punjab to match the Central Government's DA rate," she said.Reacting to the ministers' appeal to engage with the government through dialogue, Punjab Sanjha Mulzam Morcha leader Sukchain Singh Khera said the meeting with the state government would be possible if it withdraws its move to take disciplinary action against those employees who remained "unauthorised absent" on August 27.- EndsWith PTI inputsPublished On: Sep 3, 2026 23:12 IST