The West Bengal government will begin clearing dearness allowance arrears owed to state employees and pensioners from March 2026, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on March 15, 2026.
The arrears fall under the Revision of Pay and Allowances (ROPA) 2009 framework and apply to a wide base of beneficiaries, including state government employees, pensioners, teachers, non-teaching staff, and workers at grant-in-aid institutions, including panchayats, municipal bodies, and other local bodies. “They will start receiving their ROPA 2009 DA arrears from March 2026 onwards as per the modalities detailed out in the notifications issued by our Finance Department,” Banerjee said in a post on X.
The announcement follows a Supreme Court directive issued earlier this year ordering the state government to release 25% of pending DA arrears, covering the period 2008 to 2019, by March 31, 2026. State government employees had been agitating over the delay for years, with some groups staging cease-work protests as recently as this month.
The announcement was made approximately one hour before the Election Commission of India declared poll dates for the West Bengal Assembly elections, scheduled for April 23 and April 29, 2026, with results on May 4, 2026. Once the election schedule was announced, the Model Code of Conduct came into force, preventing the government from announcing fresh welfare measures. Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari called the timing “a desperate last-minute poll gimmick,” while the Trinamool Congress framed it as the fulfilment of a standing commitment.
West Bengal has one of the largest state government payrolls in India, and the clearance of multi-year DA arrears is expected to have a significant impact on household incomes across the state.
