Chandigarh, September 3, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Thursday said the state government was ready to provide its employees salary and Dearness Allowance (DA) at par with Central Government employees if that was what employees sought, while stressing that Punjab’s overall compensation structure and financial position had to be considered.
Cheema, along with Industries and Commerce Minister Aman Arora and Social Security Minister Dr Baljit Kaur, said Punjab employees in several major categories already draw higher take-home salaries than their Central Government counterparts because of the state’s higher basic-pay structure.
Addressing a press conference, Cheema said Punjab spends 51 per cent of its revenue receipts on salaries and pensions, compared with an all-India average of around 38 per cent among major states.
According to the government’s figures, Punjab’s salary and pension expenditure stood at Rs 57,177.9 crore against revenue receipts of Rs 1,11,740 crore in the FY 2025-26 Budget Estimates.
Cheema said the Bhagwant Mann government had increased DA by 14 percentage points in three increments, from 28 per cent in November 2021 to 42 per cent in November 2024. The rate was raised to 34 per cent in October 2022, 38 per cent in December 2023 and 42 per cent in November 2024.
He also said the government inherited a DA arrears liability of around Rs 14,100 crore pertaining to 2016-21 from the previous Congress and SAD-BJP governments. More than Rs 4,500 crore of the inherited arrears has already been disbursed to employees and pensioners, he said.
Cheema maintained that comparing basic pay and DA together showed that Punjab employees in several categories were already receiving higher take-home salaries than their counterparts in Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
Aman Arora said increasing DA to 60 per cent would impose an additional annual burden of around Rs 6,500 crore on the state exchequer. He said the financial implications had to be considered alongside expenditure on schools, hospitals, infrastructure and other essential services.
Arora also highlighted the government’s employment measures, saying 70,900 jobs had been provided purely on merit and that the government had ended the outsourcing model while initiating the process of transitioning 65,000 personnel to contracts.
Appealing to employee unions to pursue dialogue, Arora said the government was ready to resolve outstanding issues through discussions with Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann.
Dr Baljit Kaur said the state’s position was governed by the Punjab Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2021, framed under Article 309 of the Constitution. She said the rules did not prescribe a fixed DA percentage or require Punjab to automatically match the Centre’s DA rate.
She said Punjab had the constitutional and statutory authority to determine compensation for its employees according to its financial circumstances, while balancing employee welfare with resources required for public services.
The Group of Ministers said the issue should be assessed through the broader framework of employee compensation, inherited liabilities and Punjab’s fiscal sustainability rather than through the DA percentage alone.
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