The West Bengal state government will release 50% of pending Dearness Relief (DR) arrears to pensioners in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area through banks, according to an official notification from the state finance department's pension branch. As reported by PTI, this interim measure aims to provide immediate relief for state government retirees while the government seeks to expedite delays that had arisen due to non-verified bank records.
The estimated arrears are calculated on the basis of data available with the Accountant General, West Bengal, the DR rates notified by the Finance Department during the ROPA 2009 period from 1 April 2008 to 31 December 2019, and the applicable All India Consumer Price Index-linked formula. According to the notification, the government has developed a dedicated Bank Pension Management Portal under the West Bengal Integrated Financial Management System (WBiFMS) to facilitate the process.
Banks have been directed to verify and update pensioners' records on the portal and immediately credit the admissible amount to their bank accounts. The government has also asked banks to furnish validated details of all pension disbursements made during the ROPA 2009 period so that the remaining DR arrears can be calculated and paid. As reported by PTI, the notification stated that modalities for payment of the residual DR arrears would be announced separately.
A senior state government official told PTI that the decision comes as the government intends to ensure that pensioners are not made to wait any longer because of procedural delays. The official explained that the government has taken this step to provide immediate relief to pensioners while the verification process continues, with banks instructed to complete record validation at the earliest so that balance arrears can be released without unnecessary delay.
Earlier on 22 June, the state government hiked dearness allowance (DA) by 20% from 1 October, effectively increasing the component to 38% of basic salary for West Bengal state government employees and pensioners. According to PTI reports, this announcement narrowed the gap in DA received by state government employees and their central government counterparts by 22 percentage points — a significant improvement from the previous gap of 42 percentage points between the two groups.
