Punjab BJP chief doubles down on AAP govt over delay in DA release

Chandigarh, Jul 7 (PTI) Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon on Tuesday accused the AAP government of failing to release the pending Dearness Allowance (DA) to government employees and pensioners, alleging it was reneging on promises made before the assembly elections. Dhillon said the issue had been highlighted after the Punjab and Haryana High Court reportedly pulled up the Punjab government over the pending DA matter. He alleged that the AAP government was avoiding payment of lakhs of employees and pensioners while making "frivolous arguments" in court instead of resolving the issue. Dhillon claimed that Punjab government employees and pensioners felt "cheated" and accused AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of failing to fulfil their pre-poll assurances. Drawing a comparison with the Centre and Haryana, Dhillon said the BJP-led governments were releasing DA to employees on time, while alleging that the Punjab government had delayed payment of arrears. He claimed that Haryana employees were receiving 60 per cent DA, whereas Punjab employees were still awaiting arrears despite the alliance reaching 42 per cent. The Punjab BJP chief further alleged that the state government had sufficient funds for advertisements and self-promotion, but it was claiming that the treasury was empty when it came to paying employees their dues. Dhillon also alleged that the high court's observations had exposed the AAP government's "broken promises" and asserted that employees would respond to the issue in the next Punjab Assembly elections. PTI VSD KSI KSI KSI