Govt announces 6% DA hike for govt employees, pensioners

Union Cabinet has cleared additional six percent Dearness Allowance for serving government employees and Dearness Relief for pensioners from 1st January this year. Briefing media in New Delhi this evening, IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the decision will benefit lakhs of serving employees and pensioners. Cabinet has also approved implementation of rural housing scheme of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana under which one crore houses will be built in the next three years. It will cost Rs 81,975 crore and Rs 1.2 lakh financial assistance will be provided per unit in plain areas and Rs 1.3 lakh in hilly and difficult areas. Government has also given its nod to Ashgabat Agreement, to build an international transport and transit corridor between Central Asia and Persian Gulf. It has also approved procurement of launch services and realization of ground segment for GSAT-11. It will cost Rs 1117 crore, and enable early deployment of satellite to augment Ku-band capacity for various services like VSATS, and broadband. Meanwhile, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA has cleared doubling of Kiul-Gaya Railway line of 124 kilometres costing 1354.22 crore rupees. The project will be completed by 2019-2020. CCEA has also approved doubling of the Ranchi (Hatia) Railway line of 158.5 kilometres to be completed within next six year. The project will cost Rs 1921.94 crore.