West Bengal govt employees start dharna demanding DA at with Central counterparts

On Friday, an organization representing West Bengal government employees initiated a three-day sit-in demonstration near the state secretariat Nabanna. Their primary demand is the release of dearness allowance, insisting that it should be on par with the rates provided to their counterparts in the central government.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced an additional four per cent DA to the state government employees from January next. The members of the Sangrami Joutha Mancha sat on the dharna near the Nabanna, where the chief minister's office is located, with placards and posters and shouted slogans in support of their demand for release of DA at par with central government employees.

Members of the Sangrami Joutha Mancha asserted that despite the chief minister's announcement of an additional four per cent dearness allowance for state government employees, there would still be a substantial 36 percentage points gap between the dearness allowance provided to state government employees and their counterparts in the central government.

On Thursday, the Calcutta High Court granted conditional permission to the organization, allowing them to conduct the demonstration at the Nabanna bus terminus near the state secretariat in Howrah city for three days starting from Friday.

Justice Rajasekhar Mantha directed the petitioners to adhere to their undertaking to ensure that there is absolutely no disruption to any traffic or any inconvenience to the public at large.