Reported by Mrinal Kanti Banik

Agartala: The Tripura government has announced a 3 per cent increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) for state government employees and pensioners, along with a hike in House Rent Allowance (HRA).

Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha announced the measures at a press conference at the state secretariat on Tuesday, describing the package as a festive benefit for government employees.

With the latest revision, the DA-DR rate will rise to 44 per cent, effective from October 1. Saha said the decision would result in an additional annual financial burden of around Rs 300 crore on the state government.

He said the revised rate would also reduce the difference between DA-DR provided to Tripura government employees and that available to their counterparts in the Centre to 16 percentage points.

The government has also increased the HRA for regular employees from 8 per cent to 10 per cent of basic pay, with effect from October 1. The revision is expected to add another Rs 141.96 crore annually to the state’s expenditure.

At the same time, the maximum HRA ceiling has been raised substantially from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000.

The announcements come ahead of the Durga Puja and Deepavali festive season, with employees expected to receive the revised financial benefits in November.

Saha said the government has focused on improving employee benefits since it came to power in 2018. During this period, the fitment factor was raised from 2.25 to 2.57, resulting in an estimated 14.22 per cent increase in basic pay, he said.

The chief minister added that DA-DR had been increased in phases and had risen by 38 percentage points since 2022. He said the government would consider further measures for employees depending on the state’s financial position.

Eighth Pay Commission

On the proposed Eighth Pay Commission, Saha said the state government had decided to constitute a pay commission. Further action, he said, would be taken while balancing employee demands with the state’s financial constraints.

The government has also introduced changes to certain leave provisions. Employees with more than 285 days but up to 300 days of accumulated earned leave will now be allowed to retain the next 15 days separately as advance leave, preventing the additional leave from being forfeited.

Promotion and other employee measures

Saha said the Promotion Policy, 2021, was introduced to address long-standing issues related to promotions and facilitate ad hoc promotions.

Under a decision taken on December 1, 2025, employees who received ad hoc promotions under the policy will, subject to prescribed conditions, have their service and retirement benefits of regular promotion counted from the applicable date.

The chief minister also highlighted other measures, including the introduction of 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs and streamlining of the die-in-harness system.

He said the government had additionally focused on strengthening the skills of state civil service officers through training at institutions including the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, IIM Calcutta and BIPARD, through SIPARD.

Tripura Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy was also present at the press conference.