Himachal to give Seven Percent DA to Staff

Shimla, Jan 27 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh Tuesday announced a seven percent dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees.

The enhanced DA would be effective from July last year, a government spokesperson told IANS.

This would put an extra burden of Rs.300 crore on the state exchequer.

Addressing employees here, the chief minister blamed the previous BJP government in the state for the financial mess.

He said former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal announced sops in haste for the employees ahead of the assembly election in December 2012.

"This put an extra burden of Rs.1,300 crore, and as a result the present government had empty coffers," Singh said.

He said the previous government could not present its case properly before the 13th Finance Commission and as a consequence the latter grossly underestimated the committed liabilities of the state.

The Finance Commission had not provided equal treatment to the state despite the fact that preferential treatment was required to be given to a special category state like Himachal Pradesh, the chief minister said.

He hoped that the 14th Finance Commission would look into the financial aspects of the state considerately.

Himachal Pradesh State NGOs Federation president S.S. Jogta thanked the chief minister for announcing the DA for employees.

The state's public debt was a whopping Rs.20,765 crore in 2012-13 and it increased by over Rs.5,000 crore in five years, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) said last year.

During 2012-13, seven loans totalling Rs.2,360 crore were raised from the open market at interest rates varying from 8.42 percent to 8.92 percent, it added.