Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Tuesday announced an increase in dearness allowance (DA) of 4% for permanent employees of temples under the control of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department and whose annual revenue is more than ₹1 lakh each.
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The DA increase would be in effect from January 1 this year and the exchequer would incur an additional annual expenditure of ₹7 crore.
In a statement, Mr. Stalin also announced an increase in the Pongal ex-gratia for full-time and part-time employees and those on consolidated pay and daily wages from ₹2,000 to ₹3,000. The exchequer will incur an additional expenditure of ₹1.5 crore after the increase in the ex-gratia for these employees, he said.
At an event held at the Secretariat on Tuesday, the Chief Minister also launched the distribution of crop insurance claims to the tune of ₹318.30 crore that would benefit over 2.21 lakh farmers.
Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare M.R.K. Panneerselvam, Minister for Environment and Climate Change Siva V. Meyyanathan, MLAs Sinthanai Selvan and M. Panneerselvam, Chief Secretary V. Irai Anbu and senior officials were present.