“We are upping the DA and DR to 60% of basic pay, from 58%, with immediate effect,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma put it. The ruling was made at the first cabinet sit-down since the major expansion and is an unambiguous statement of intent when it comes to pay, infrastructure and spending in the constituencies.
Pay decision after cabinet expansion
It was only hours before this that the ministry was made room for 12 new faces – 11 from the BJP and an AGP representative. As for the new rates, Sarma said they are for all: those in service, the pensioners, and even the extraordinary and compassionate family pensioners.
In short, the two-point jump to 60% is a way to shore up the inflation buffer right away and keep the momentum going post-reshuffle.
What the hike covers and who benefits
You have to factor in the pension side of things as well. The package is meant to cover the whole spectrum from salary to post-retirement. Yes, there is a cost to it, but the government is counting on the goodwill it will buy from its staff and retirees to back them on some bigger reform and infrastructure plays down the line.
MLALAD funds scaled up for local works
On the MLALAD front, the cabinet has hiked the allocation per MLA from Rs 1 crore to 1.5, and eventually to 2. To get some smaller, high-visibility work done in a hurry, the new rules let you put 10% of the year’s pot toward equipment.
Sarma says you can use it for community or sports needs, or for the disabled. It’s a way to be nimble in the constituency without having to tinker with the main schemes.
Key cabinet actions at a glance
A few of the takeaways from the meeting:
– DA and DR now at 60%
– 8 lakh plus in the fold of this benefit
– MLALAD to be upped to 1.5, then 2 crore
– Some leeway to spend 10% on allowed equipment
Dibrugarh named second State Capital Region
There is a reordering of things in Dibrugarh, too. The cabinet has created the Second State Capital Region and the authority to go with it (SCRDA-D). We are talking about a 20 km circle around the Dibrugarh Capital Complex in the district.
The job of the SCRDA-D will be to draw up the plans and point out where the growth is to happen. There is a Rs 500 crore fund in the offing from the relevant departments to make sure the infrastructure is in place.
It’s a way to put upper Assam on a faster track, with the kind of clarity in planning and budgeting that you need to avoid any hiccups in execution.
Governance updates and what comes next
As for the new ministers, their portfolios will be in hand in a week, Sarma said. And we will see the Assembly Budget Session open on July 6, so the fiscal plan and the new capital region will be top of mind.
They have also signed off on some changes to the 2026 rules for secondary education to put some order into promotions from Grade IV to III. It is part of a broader push to tidy up the cadres while we are at it.
Put it all together – the DA-DR, the extra MLALAD, the Dibrugarh plan – and you have a strategy that ties in morale with the hard work of building and delivering. How fast we can put these on the ground and in people’s pockets is what will tell.
