DA for fair price shop employees hiked; over 20K to benefit

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday hiked the Dearness Allowance (DA) of employees at fair price shops (ration shops) to 28% with effect from January 1, 2022. The DA hike for ration shop salesmen and packers has been announced in tune with the 14% DA hike effected for government employees in the State earlier. A section of the ration shop employees has been striking work during the last fortnight demanding the same. A release issued by the State Cooperative Department said that the ration shop employees would also benefit from the DA hike done for government employees. As many as 19,658 salesmen and 2,852 packers would benefit from the DA hike, which would result in an additional expenditure of Rs 73 crore per annum to the state exchequer.