Bhubaneswar: Ahead of Diwali, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Thursday announced a 3 per cent hike in dearness allowance for state government employees.

With this, the DA for government employees has been raised from 55% to 58%. This increase will be effective retrospectively from July 1, 2025, and will be paid in cash as part of the October 2025 salary, a CMO release said.

Additionally, the CM also announced a 3% increase in dearness relief (DR) for pensioners, which they will receive in their October 2025 pension.

This decision will benefit approximately 8.5 lakh state government employees and pensioners, the release added.

A similar announcement was made by the CM during Diwali last year.