Gujarat’s roughly 9.69 lakh state employees and pensioners will see dearness allowance rise from 60% to 63% of basic pay, with four months of arrears landing in the November salary. The state cabinet cleared the increase in Gandhinagar on Wednesday, November 4, and the General Administration Department followed the same day with a notification making Monday, November 9 a public holiday for government offices. Together the two decisions turn Diwali week into a four-day break with a bigger pay packet at the end of it.
Rs 900 more on a Rs 30,000 basic
The increase is three percentage points, backdated to July 1, 2026. Government spokesperson and minister Jitu Vaghani told reporters after the cabinet meeting that the state is matching the Centre’s own 3-point increase for central employees, according to IANS, via Punjab Kesari. Gujarat has followed each central revision this year: Gujarat Samachar notes that the previous step, from 58% to 60%, came in May.
In cash terms, an employee on a basic of Rs 30,000 moves from Rs 18,000 to Rs 18,900 a month in DA, a gain of Rs 900. The arrears for July to October come to Rs 523 crore across the state and will be paid in a single instalment, so that same employee can expect about Rs 3,600 extra in the November credit on top of the revised monthly figure. Employees on the Sixth Pay Commission scale get a corresponding revision, and pensioners receive the increase as dearness relief rather than DA.
The recurring bill for the state is Rs 1,569 crore a year, per the IANS report and the Gujarati daily Akila. That is on top of the Fifth Pay Commission pensioners’ relief the state revised last month, covered in our earlier report.
Who the 9.69 lakh are
The IANS and Akila figures break the beneficiaries into 4.62 lakh serving employees and about 5.07 lakh pensioners, drawn from the state government, panchayat service and grant-aided institutions. Gujarat Samachar reported a lower total of 8.82 lakh, splitting it as 4 lakh employees and 4.82 lakh pensioners. The official count will be in the Finance Department resolution that gives effect to the hike; Gujarat Samachar said that circular was expected shortly. Until it is out, treat the July 1 date and the November arrears as the cabinet’s stated intent rather than a payroll instruction.
Pensioners now outnumber serving staff on the state’s books, whichever count is used. That ratio is the reason each DA point costs the exchequer more than it used to, and why the state has leaned on temporary increases for the older pay-commission cohorts rather than a fresh pay revision.
Four days off, one Saturday owed
The holiday notification covers state government offices, panchayat offices and the offices of state boards and corporations, Chitralekha reported. Diwali falls on Sunday, November 8 this year, so the original 2026 holiday list had staff back at their desks on the Monday before the Gujarati New Year holiday on Tuesday, November 10 and Bhai Bij on Wednesday, November 11. Adding Monday closes the gap and gives employees four consecutive days off.
In exchange, offices will work on a Saturday that would otherwise be a weekly off. Chitralekha and Loktej both name Saturday, November 28, the fourth Saturday of the month. Gujarat Samachar’s report gives December 12 instead. The notification text settles it, and anyone planning a visit to a government office on either Saturday should check with that office first.
The holiday does not, on its own, apply to banks, courts, schools or private employers. Banks follow the Reserve Bank’s state holiday calendar, and schools are already on the Diwali vacation that began on November 5. Citizens who need a government counter between November 7 and 11, for a certificate, a registration or a hearing, should assume it is shut and plan for Thursday, November 12.
The same cabinet meeting gave in-principle approval to a fish landing centre on Shiyalbet island off Amreli and cleared a livestock insurance scheme under the National Livestock Mission in which the state pays 85% of the premium for cover of up to Rs 40,000 per animal, according to Gujarat First and Akila.
Sources: IANS via Punjab Kesari, Gujarat Samachar, Akila News, Chitralekha, Loktej, Gujarat First
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.