By IANS,
New Delhi : The central government Thursday announced a five percent hike in dearness allowance for its employees and pensioners, with retrospective effect from July 1.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters here after the meeting.
Dearness allowance will now be 27.77 percent of the basic pay of government officials and pensioners.
The hike will cost the government Rs.2,903.55 crore in 2009-10 and Rs.4,355.35 crore per year in subsequent years, Soni said.
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