DA Hike: Employees have received the good news of salary hike in the budget presented by a state of the country. This state is West Bengal. State Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya presented a budget of Rs 3.89 lakh crore in the Assembly on February 12.
Special attention has been given to social welfare schemes in the budget. Along with this, an increase of 4 percent in dearness allowance (DA) has also been announced for state government employees.
This was the last full budget of the Mamata Banerjee government before the assembly elections in West Bengal next year. In the last budget, Rs 3.67 lakh crore was allocated to the state. Bhattacharya said in his budget speech that the West Bengal government will increase the dearness allowance of state government employees by 4 percent from April 1, 2025. This will increase the total dearness allowance of more than 10 lakh state government employees and pensioners to 18 percent.
‘Job creation is the core of our development model’
In the budget speech, Bhattacharya said that job creation is the core of our development model. As of January 2025, the unemployment rate of the country was 7.93 percent, while the unemployment rate of West Bengal was just 4.14 percent. Bhattacharya said that this positive trend was also evident in the October-December 2024 quarter, when West Bengal’s unemployment rate was much lower than the national average.
He also informed that West Bengal’s sustained economic growth and socio-economic progress helped the government lift 92 lakh people out of poverty in the state by 2021. This number has now increased to 1.72 crore.
Other important announcements of West Bengal budget…
- The state government unveiled a roadmap for infrastructure and agriculture development projects in the budget for FY2025-26, with major funds allocated for rural connectivity, river erosion control and agriculture support initiatives.
- Allocation of Rs 44,000 crore announced for rural development and panchayats
- Allocation of Rs 1,500 crore for improvement of rural roads across the state
- Rs 500 crore approved for construction of 4.75 km long bridge over Ganga river at Gangasagar
- Plan to build 16 lakh new houses in the next financial year under the ‘Banglar Bari’ housing project. Rs 9,600 crore has been proposed in the budget for this initiative.
- The development of roads and infrastructure will continue under the state ‘Pathashree’ project. An additional Rs 1,500 crore has been allocated for this project for the next financial year.
- Rs 500 crore has been allocated for the ‘Ghatal Master Plan’, a project to strengthen embankments and clean river beds of at least 10 major rivers in West Bengal. The total cost of the project is Rs 1,500 crore.
- Announcement of a new project named ‘River Bandhan’ for river-centric areas in the state. This project is focused on preventing river bank erosion. Rs 200 crore has been allocated for this.
- Announcement of giving smartphones to 70,000 Asha workers
