West Bengal govt to release 50% of estimated Dearness Relief arrears for pensioners in Kolkata — All you need to know

The West Bengal state government will release 50% of pending Dearness Relief arrears of individual and family pensioners in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area through banks, PTI reported citing an official notification on the same.

As per the notification from the state finance department's pension branch, pending DR arrears will be disbursed through banks in the KMC area in an “interim measure” as the government seeks to expedite delays that had arisen due to non-verified bank records, the report added. The government is also awaiting validated details of past pension disbursements from concerned banks, it said.

How will estimated DR arrears be calculated?

The estimated arrears are to be calculated on the basis of data available with the Accountant General, West Bengal, the DR rates notified by the Finance Department during the ROPA 2009 period from 1 April 2008 to 31 December 2019, and the applicable All India Consumer Price Index-linked formula.

The state has also developed a dedicated Bank Pension Management Portal under the West Bengal Integrated Financial Management System (WBiFMS) to facilitate its process, the report added.

DR arrears: What will banks do to facilitate process?

On their part, banks have been directed to verify and update pensioners' records on the portal and immediately credit the admissible amount to their bank accounts.

The government has also asked banks to furnish validated details of all pension disbursements made during the ROPA 2009 period so that the remaining DR arrears can be calculated and paid.

The notification said the modalities for payment of the residual DR arrears would be announced separately.

Bengal to release 50% DR arrears for pensioners — All we know

• According to the notification: “The government has decided to release 50% of the estimated arrears of DR for the period from 2008 to 2019 to pensioners and family pensioners drawing their pension from different banks in the KMC area.”
• It said that delay in releasing the arrears was caused by absence of historical pension disbursement records maintained by banks.
• A senior state government official told PTI the decision comes as the government intends to ensure that pensioners are not made to wait any longer because of procedural delays.
• “The government has taken this step to provide immediate relief to pensioners while the verification process continues. Banks have also been instructed to complete the validation of records at the earliest so that the balance arrears can be released without unnecessary delay,” the official told PTI.

DA hike: West Bengal announces 20% increase

Earlier on 22 June, the state government hiked dearness allowance (DA) by 20% from 1 October, effectively increasing the component to 38% of basic salary for West Bengal state government employees and pensioners.

Notably, the announcement narrowed the gap in DA received by state government employees and their central government counterparts by 22 percentage points — a significant improvement. This is down from the previous gap of 42 percentage points between the two.

Central government employees and pensioners are covered by the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC), which offers a different pay structure and increases pay. In contrast, the West Bengal state employees and pensioners are still covered by the 5th and 6th CPC, which have much lower salaries. Now, with the 8th CPC underway, there are concerns that the salary gap will widen.

(With inputs from PTI)