The Tripura government has announced a 5 per cent hike in Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief for state government employees and pensioners, increasing the component to 41 per cent of basic pay. The revised rates will come into effect from April 1, 2026, according to Chief Minister Manik Saha.
The announcement is expected to benefit more than 1.83 lakh people across the state, including serving employees and retired pensioners. Officials said the decision would place an additional financial burden of nearly ₹500 crore annually on the state government.
The DA revision comes at a time when several states across the country have also increased allowances for government employees following the Centre’s recent revision of dearness allowance rates.
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Over 1 lakh employees to benefit
According to Mint, speaking about the decision, Chief Minister Manik Saha said 1,02,563 state government employees and 81,019 pensioners would directly benefit from the revised allowance structure. He added that the government was making continuous efforts to reduce the gap between salaries and allowances offered by the state and those provided to central government employees.
The Centre had earlier increased the dearness allowance for its employees to 60 per cent from 58 per cent, prompting many state governments to announce similar revisions.
Tripura Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy said a substantial portion of the state budget would continue to go towards salaries and pension payments. According to him, nearly ₹15,000 crore out of Tripura’s total budget of ₹34,212.31 crore for the 2026-27 financial year has been earmarked for salaries and pensions.
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Opposition questions timing of announcement
According to Mint, while welcoming the increase, the opposition Congress criticised the manner in which the announcement was made. Senior Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman said the chief minister should have allowed the finance minister to announce the budget presentation in the Assembly.
He said the opposition was pleased that employees would receive relief through the hike but argued that budget-related decisions should ideally be announced during formal Assembly proceedings.
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DA revisions gather pace across sectors
The Tripura announcement follows similar revisions made by the Centre and several other institutions in recent weeks. In April, the Finance Ministry increased the dearness allowance for central government employees and pensioners by 2 per cent with retrospective effect from January 1, 2026.
According to Mint, the Indian Banks’ Association later revised dearness allowance rates for bank employees, while Indian Railways also approved a 2 per cent hike for railway staff and pensioners.
Meanwhile, employee unions and pensioners’ organisations have intensified demands ahead of the 8th Central Pay Commission. Several groups have sought higher inflation-linked compensation, a merger of DA at 50 per cent, and broader revisions in pension and salary structures for government employees across the country.
