Chandigarh, Sept. 19 -- Ahead of the festive season, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab on Friday announced an 8% dearness allowance (DA) increase for government employees and pensioners, taking it to 50%, and bringing an end to a three-week agitation by government staffers. The DA will be released in two instalments of 4% each.

The combined 8% DA, which has been backdated to July 2023, will be disbursed on October 1 along with the September salary. The decision was announced after an hour-long meeting between chief minister Bhagwant Mann, cabinet ministers Aman Arora and Baljit Kaur, and 12 representatives of the Sanjha Mulazim Manch.

Speaking after the meeting, Arora said the decision would put an additional burden of arou...