Dearness allowance hike: West Bengal govt raises DA by 20% for state employees

In its maiden Budget presented on Monday (June 22, 2026), the BJP government in West Bengal announced a 20 percentage-point hike in dearness allowance (DA) for its employees.

“DA for state government employees and DR for pensioners would be raised by 20 percentage points from October 1, taking it to 38 per cent,” a PTI report said quoting Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta as saying.

The move has reduced the gap between the DA paid to state government employees and their central counterparts.

“The move narrows the gap between the DA received by state government employees and their central government counterparts by 22 percentage points, a politically significant announcement as government employees had long agitated over the issue under the previous regime,” added the report.

Dasgupta said his government has inherited a debt of ₹8.15 lakh crore from the previous administration, asserting that restoring fiscal discipline and public confidence in governance would be among its priorities.

“Building a corruption-free administrative structure is a cornerstone of our vision. We have to restore people's trust in governance,” Dasgupta said, according to the PTI report.

He also announced the filling of 1 lakh government vacancies. These include 20,000 posts in the police force and 50,000 teaching and non-teaching positions in schools, which will be filled in phases.

The government has also earmarked ₹36,000 crore for financial assistance to women under the Annapurna Yojana.

“The upper age limit for government recruitment, already relaxed by five years, will continue for the next two years,” Dasgupta added.

The Budget further allocated ₹550 crore for free bus travel for women.

“A ‘Pink Card’ system will be introduced shortly for availing the benefit,” the minister said.

The government also increased the MLA Local Area Development Fund from ₹70 lakh to ₹1 crore. Dasgupta further noted that the government's vision was aligned with the national goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’.