Chandigarh, Nov. 5 -- The Punjab government on Wednesday announced a 3-percentage-point hike in dearness allowance and dearness relief for 8 lakh government employees and pensioners in the state. Announcing the hike, chief minister Bhagwant Mann said the additional annual expenditure on account of the increase in the dearness allowance and dearness relief would be Rs.303 crore. The hike, which will be paid with December salaries and pensions, takes the dearness allowance for employees to 53% of their basic pay/pension. The announcement follows the central government's decision on October 29 to increase DA for its employees and dearness relief for pensioners by 3 percentage points over the existing rates of 60%, with retrospective effect from July 1, 2026. Mann said the announcement marks an 11-percentage-point increase by the state government within just two months. "With this, the DA has risen to 53%, providing employees with an annual financial benefit of approximately Rs.3,988 crore. Employees are the backbone of our government, and we are fully committed to their welfare, rights and overall well-being," he later posted on X, dubbing the increase a Diwali gift. Earlier, the state government had announced an 8% hike in DA - two instalments of 4% each, taking it from 42% to 50% following a three-week-long standoff with employees and pensioners. Government employees have been staging protests for months, demanding that the state fulfil their long-pending demands, including pending 18% DA, payment of dearness allowance arrears, restoration of the old pension scheme, revision of pension, and restoration of 37 discontinued allowances. Mann told the media that the government was always willing to hold discussions with employees on their pending demands. He acknowledged the immense contribution of government employees and pensioners to the state's administration and public service. "Our government has undertaken the largest-ever recruitment drive in government departments over the past four years and nine months. We have provided 71,777 government jobs to our youth purely on merit, without any bribery or recommendation," he said. The CM further stated that his government had systematically addressed this long-pending financial liability and prepared a phased payment plan to clear the outstanding arrears of Rs.14,191 crore. "We gave priority to pensioners, and their arrears were released on April 1, 2025. The arrears of serving government employees have started being released from April 1, 2026. So far, arrears amounting to Rs.4,891 crore have been released," he added....