Bhubaneswar, Dec 31: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced on Friday increasing the Dearness Allowance (DA) of government employees and pensioners by 3 per cent.

The decision would benefit 7.5 lakh Odisha government employees and pensioners, as per the Chief Minister's Office.

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The government also decided to pay 30 per cent of the arrears of employees on the Seventh Pay Commission. Earlier, they received 50 per cent of the arrears of their increased pay from January 2016 to August 2017. It will benefit 6 lakh government employees in the state.

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Following the hike, the government employees will now get 31 per cent DA. The hike will be effective from July 1, 2021.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)