Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupendra Yadav, criticized Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, for taking legal action against her state government employees to avoid paying dearness allowance at par with central government employees. Yadav stated that Banerjee falsely claimed deaths due to a revision exercise, leading to frustration among state employees awaiting their dues. The leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, highlighted Banerjee’s evasion of media questions regarding the Supreme Court’s directive on dearness allowance arrears for state employees.
At a press conference, Adhikari emphasized that the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of paying dearness allowance arrears to West Bengal government employees, rejecting Banerjee’s stance that the matter was still under judicial review. The court’s verdict on February 5 mandated the state government to settle dearness allowance arrears dating back to 2008, with a partial payment due by March 31 this year. The financial implications are significant, with an immediate cost of over Rs 10,000 crore and a long-term burden exceeding Rs 42,000 crore on the state exchequer.
