Thiruvananthapuram: In a major relief to lakhs of state government employees and pensioners, the newly formed United Democratic Front (UDF) government has announced a time-bound clearance of inflation-linked allowances. Presenting the Revised State Budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan (who also holds the Finance portfolio) stated that the government is committed to providing Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) systematically without any further disruptions.
Following this budget declaration, state employees and retirees will receive two installments of DA and two installments of DR over the next nine months.
Phased Disbursement Plan
Immediate Release: As the first step of this commitment, a 2% DA/DR installment, which has been effective since January 2026, will be sanctioned immediately.
Next Phase: The subsequent DA installment, effective from July 2026, will be released in the state as soon as the Central Government approves and announces its corresponding alignment.
Under the previous government, up to six installments of DA had fallen into severe arrears due to fiscal constraints.
While intense protests from various service organizations eventually forced the previous government to clear those backlogs right before the state assembly elections, the previous administration denied retrospective benefits (previous alignment dates) for those clearances.
This denial of retrospective effect caused a massive cumulative loss of nearly ₹40,000 crore to the hard-earned money of state employees and pensioners.
