Kolkata, March 16 -- West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday hiked the dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees and increased the monthly honorariums for mosque muezzins and Hindu priests barely an hour before the Election Commission (EC) announced the assembly poll schedule. Polling in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29, the EC announced on Sunday. "I am happy to announce that our Ma-Mati-Manush government has delivered on its promise to all its employees and pensioners, and to lakhs of teachers and non-teaching staff of our educational institutions, as well as employees/pensioners of our other grant-in-aid institutions like panchayats, municipal bodies, other local bodies, etc," Banerjee wrote on X. "They will start receiving their ROPA 2009 DA arrears from March 2026 onwards as per the modalities detailed out in the notifications issued by our finance department," she added. Although the finance department did not issue an immediate notification, Sangrami Joutha Mancha - the joint platform of various organisations representing state employees, teachers and pensioners who have been carrying out an agitation for three years and have moved the Supreme Court - welcomed the announcement. The Supreme Court recently passed an order in their favour, stating that their DA must match the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal legislative assembly, called Banerjee's announcement on revised dearness allowance a "desperate last-minute gimmick." "After years of looting the state treasury and cheating them blind, this is your desperate last-minute poll gimmick?" Adhikari wrote on X. "Not a single paisa will actually be released. Zero accountability, zero funds, zero delivery - only empty notifications from your Finance Department to fool the people one last time. Classic TMC election drama. West Bengal is watching. This time the joke is on you Mamata Banerjee...." he added. Addressing a rally in Bengal on March 2, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, "Government employees across India receive salaries recommended by the 7th Pay Commission. Only Bengal government employees are still under the 6th Pay Commission. If you help us win, the 7th Pay Commission will be enforced here in 45 days." Convenor of the Sangrami Joutha Mancha Bhaskar Ghosh said, "This is a major victory for us. It proves that an organised agitation can bring any government down to its knees."...