Lucknow, May 22 -- The Uttar Pradesh government has increased the dearness allowance by 2% for its employees, those working with aided educational institutions, technical education institutions, regular and full-time employees of local bodies, work-charge employees, those in UGC grades, as well as pensioners. The DA to be paid to employees, with effect from January 1, 2026, will be 60% (against the prevailing 58%), according to a May 21, 2026 government order issued by additional chief secretary (finance) Deepak Kumar. The state government will incur an additional recurring expenditure of about Rs 179 crore per month following the increase in DA. The arrears for the DA payable between January 1, 2026 and April 30, 2026 come to Rs 709 crore. It will be deposited in the provident fund account of the employees. The employees who have already retired or will retire in next six months will be paid the arrears in cash. Uttar Pradesh State Employees Sanyukta Parishad president JN Tiwari said about 28 lakh employees and pensioners (16.35 lakh employees and 11.53 lakh pensioners) would be benefitted by the DA hike....