Will central government employees and pensioners ever be paid dearness allowance (DA) arrears frozen during the COVID-19 period? This question has been on the minds of over 1 crore central government staff for nearly five years, but now it seems even the employees and retirees have given up.

For a long time, employees and several staff unions were hopeful that the arrears of DA withheld during the pandemic would be paid at some point. Employee organisations repeatedly raised this issue and wrote letters to the government. However, a recent development has made it clear that receiving arrears for this period is almost impossible, as employees have probably given up on this.

Why was DA withheld during COVID-19?

In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought economic activity to a h

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