Punjab announces 40 % DA hike for computer teachers; over 1,000 employees to get regularised
The government has also decided to regularise the services of 1,007 non-teaching employees working under the Samagra Shiksha scheme.
PTC News Desk: The Punjab government has increased the Dearness Allowance (DA) of 6,507 computer teachers (PICTES) by 40 per cent. With this hike, their DA has gone up from 181 per cent to 221 per cent.
The government has also decided to regularise the services of 1,007 non-teaching employees working under the Samagra Shiksha scheme. According to the government, the services of these employees had been regularised some time ago.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann shared a post on X, saying that his government is fully committed to the welfare of employees and their secure future. He also extended Diwali greetings to everyone.
With the DA rising from 181 per cent to 221 per cent, employees with a basic salary of Rs 15,000 will get a monthly increase of Rs 6,000. Those drawing a basic salary of Rs 25,000 will receive an additional Rs 10,000, while employees with a basic salary of Rs 35,000 will get a hike of Rs 14,000 per month.
The increase will depend on the difference between the old and revised DA rates.
Teachers had received a 33 % DA hike earlier
In January 2025, the Punjab government had increased the DA of computer teachers from 148 per cent to 181 per cent.
At that time, employees with a basic salary of Rs 15,000 received an increase of Rs 4,950. Those earning Rs 25,000 and Rs 35,000 as basic salary received hikes of Rs 8,250 and Rs 11,550, respectively.
The increase was made effective from January 1, 2025.
Dispute over DA hike for other govt employees
The Punjab government had earlier decided to increase the DA of around 85,000 employees recruited after July 2020 from 42 per cent to 60 per cent. This meant an increase of 18 percentage points.
However, the decision triggered a controversy as around 3.15 lakh other government employees did not receive the same benefit at that time.
Employee unions questioned the decision, calling it discriminatory and alleging unequal treatment of government staff.
Following this, in September 2026, the government increased the DA of all government employees and pensioners by 8 percentage points, taking it from 42 per cent to 50 per cent.
Additional 3 % DA hike announced
On November 4, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced an additional 3 per cent increase in DA.
However, the dispute remains unresolved. The issue of pending DA and Dearness Relief (DR) arrears worth around Rs 22,818 crore for employees and pensioners is also pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.