"Underprivileged’ employees of federal govt to get disparity allowance

Federal government employees from BPS 1 to 19 grades will now get a disparity allowance from March 1, except those who are already getting extra allowances. In this regard, the government on Wednesday notified 15 per cent Disparity Reduction Allowance (DRA) on the running basic pay to the “underprivileged employees” up to grade 19. The government announced the DRA earlier this month a day ahead of a sit-in call given by the employees in protest against the government’s failure to provide them with a special allowance promised to them. The federal government had also called upon the provincial governments to provide similar relief to their employees out of their own funds. In a notification, the finance ministry said the allowance would apply to all civil employees of the federal government, including employees of the federal secretariat, attached departments and subordinate offices who have never been allowed additional allowance or allowances equal to or more than 100pc of the basic pay or performance allowance.