Agartala, Jan. 16: Tripura government, autonomous bodies and government-sponsored PSU employees are planning an agitation to protest the delay in payment of DA.

Some of the employee associations have scheduled a meeting on January 31 to decide upon a plan of action to press for their demands.

“At the moment, the gap in payment of DA to state and central employees is 21 per cent and it will widen further after the Centre pays the next installment in January. It is already clear that the state government may not give allowance in January. We have no option other than fighting for our rights,” said the vice-president of Karmachari Federation, Badal Sarkar.

He denounced the state government’s plea of deprivation by the 13th Finance Commission.

“In the entire country only Tripura and Himachal Pradesh governments have claimed to have been deprived. Why should the Centre pick on these two? In fact the Prime Minister’s office had sought information from states about requirement of fund for implementing pay revisions under the 6th Pay Commission,” Sarkar said .

He described the Left Front government’s charges against the Centre and the 13th Finance Commission as “totally baseless and motivated”.

Official sources in the finance ministry said sanctioning another installment of DA for employees in January was “under active consideration” of the state government. “The trouble is that paying one per cent DA to employees entails an expenditure of Rs 28 crore. Where will the money come from at this time of crisis?” a source said.

He said the government’s loan burden had reached Rs 5,611 crore and daily principle amount of loan and interest accrual from it was Rs 2 crore.