Manmohan Singh slams Modi govt for DA hike cut, says ‘No need to impose hardship on govt servants’

On Apr 25, 2020

Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Saturday expressed concerns over the Centre’s decision to cut back the hike in dearness allowance and dearness relief for all government employees and pensioners, seeking a saving of up to ₹21,000 crore.

“We should be on the side of the people whose DA is being cut. I sincerely believe that it is not necessary at this stage to impose hardship on the government servants and the armed forces personnel,” said Dr. Singh in a two-minute video clip released by the Congress.

As #COVID spreads, Modi Govt hurts 1.1cr Central Govt employees instead of providing relief. Withdrawing DA instead of cutting wasteful expenditure like Central Vista project is insensitive & inhumane. Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, Shri @RahulGandhi & others express deep concern. pic.twitter.com/kYDTCTlUaH

— NSUI (@nsui) April 25, 2020

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also slammed the government over the issue, saying the problem lay with the government’s decision to go ahead with the central vista redevelopment project.

“You are taking away money from the middle class, you are not giving money to the poor people and you are spending it on your central vista,” said Gandhi.

P Chidambaram in his message said, “We can make the point when we you have not cut back the expenditure on the bullet train and central vista development. Those are the problems which should be put on halt before you halt people’s dearness allowance.”