Calcutta, April 1: With the civic polls scheduled for June, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government today announced an instalment of dearness allowance to keep its impatient employees in good humour.

The decision will benefit 10 lakh state government employees, teachers and non-teaching staff, employees of public undertakings, local bodies, statutory authorities and corporations. About 400,000 retired employees of these bodies also stand to gain.

The cash-strapped state will have to cough up an additional Rs 252 crore annually following the decision.

?We have decided to give another instalment of DA to state employees, which is 3 per cent of the basic pay,? finance minister Asim Dasgupta said at Writers? Buildings.

The DA will now be 52 per cent of the basic pay. State employees are behind their central government counterparts by 14 per cent. Payment of the remaining instalments would be announced later ? after relevant assessments ? the finance minister said.

Asked if 50 per cent of the DA would be merged with the basic, Dasgupta said: ?The Centre merged 50 per cent with the basic after it started giving 61 per cent DA. Let us reach that stage?.?

The revised DA will come into effect from today. The government shells out over Rs 10,000 crore annually for salary payments. Asked if the additional sum for the increased DA would add to the burden, Dasgupta said: ?I cannot disagree with you.?

However, many employees? organisations are still not happy.

West Bengal Government Employees? Union (Nabaparjay) said the announcement of this ?paltry DA when so much more is still due? only means depriving the employees. Its representatives also said protests would be organised across the state on April 20.

The Left-backed State Coordination Committee, too, said it had expected much more. ?We told the government to clear the dues? Even if it cannot be paid at one go, at least to clear it in instalments. I?ve heard that the finance minister said there would be discussions over payment of the remaining instalments and we hope the discussions are held soon,? said general secretary Jyotiprasad Basu.

Last July, a 4 per cent DA was announced. Basu said: ?It is a good thing that it was announced twice within a year.?