Agartala, October 6: The Tripura government on Tuesday announced a 3 per cent hike in dearness allowance and dearness relief (DA-DR) for state government employees and pensioners, taking the total rate to 44 per cent of basic pay.
Chief Minister Manik Saha announced the decision at a press conference at the state secretariat, saying the revised DA-DR would be effective from October 1, 2026, and entail an additional annual expenditure of around Rs 300 crore.
"With the increase, the gap between the DA-DR of state government employees and that of their counterparts under the Centre will come down to 16 per cent," Saha said.
The government has also increased the house rent allowance (HRA) for regular employees from 8 per cent to 10 per cent of basic pay with effect from October 1.
The HRA revision will involve an additional annual expenditure of Rs 141.96 crore, while the maximum HRA limit has been raised from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000, the chief minister said.
Saha said improving the benefits of government employees had remained a priority of his government since it assumed office in 2018.
During this period, the fitment factor was raised from 2.25 to 2.57, resulting in an increase of around 14.22 per cent in basic pay, he said.
The chief minister said DA-DR had also been revised at different stages and had increased by 38 per cent since 2022.
Further measures would be considered in the interest of employees, subject to the state's financial capacity, he said.
On the proposed Eighth Pay Commission, Saha said the state government had decided to constitute a pay commission and would take further steps while balancing employees' interests with the state's financial position.
The government has also introduced changes in leave provisions. Employees having more than 285 days but up to 300 days of earned leave will be allowed to preserve the next 15 days separately as advance leave, preventing accumulated leave from being forfeited unnecessarily.
Saha said the Promotion Policy, 2021, had been introduced to address long-pending promotion issues and provide for ad hoc promotions.
Subject to conditions under a December 1, 2025 decision, employees granted ad hoc promotion under the policy will have service and retirement benefits of regular promotion counted from the relevant date, he said.
The chief minister also highlighted the introduction of 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs and measures to streamline the die-in-harness system.
Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy was also present at the press conference.
