A flurry of announcements preceded the announcement of the Bengal Assembly poll dates on Sunday.
Less than two hours before Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is scheduled to announce the poll dates, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee declared the release of dearness allowance arrears for government employees and teachers—both serving and retired—along with a hike in the monthly allowances for temple priests and mosque muezzins.
“I am happy to announce that our Ma-Mati-Manush government has delivered on its promise to all its employees and pensioners, and to lakhs of teachers and non-teaching staff of our educational institutions, as well as employees/pensioners of our other grant-in-aid institutions like panchayats, municipal bodies, other local bodies etc,” the chief minister announced on her X.
The chief minister said the employees and pension holders will start receiving the arrears from March 2026 onwards.
On February 5, the Supreme Court had directed the Mamata Banerjee government to immediately clear 25 per cent of the dearness allowance due to the state employees and release the first instalment of the remainder by March 31.
The chief minister also announced an increase of Rs. 500 in the monthly honorariums for the purohits and muezzins.
“With this revision, they will now receive Rs. 2,000 per month,” Mamata wrote. “All fresh applications that have been duly submitted by purohits and muezzins have also been approved by the state government.”
The state home department also announced the transfer of 27 police officers in the state.
