Kolkata, Sep 23 (IANS) The West Bengal government will be paying the October salary in advance to the state government employees along with the enhanced dearness allowance (DA) to them amid the forthcoming festive season starting with the Durga Puja next month.

According to a notification issued by the State Finance department on Wednesday, the October salary along with the enhanced dearness allowance will be credited to the salary accounts of the government employees on October 15, that is a day before the beginning of the Durga Puja with Maha Shashthi on October 16.

Incidentally, the polling for election for the Rajya Sabha seat vacated following the resignation of the former Trinamool Congress MP and the actress-turned-politician Koel Mallick in July this year will also be conducted on October 16.

As per the notification issued by the State Finance department on Wednesday, the pension amount for the retired state government employees will also be credited to their accounts on October 15.

The notification states that in addition to government salaries, salaries of grant-in-aid sectors, wages, remuneration, honorariums and stipends of various contractual employees will also be paid on October 15.

State government employees usually get their salaries at the end of the month or at the beginning of the next month.

As per an earlier memo issued by the state government, the dates for payment of salaries and pensions were fixed on a monthly basis.

However, in the current guidelines, the state government has decided to pay this special advance salary only for the month of October 2026.

In the notification issued on Wednesday, signed by the Additional Chief Secretary to the state Finance department, PK Mishra, special instructions have been given to the officials to make the work of the treasuries in the matter smooth.

In the notification, it has also been claimed that the bills should be submitted in advance so that the money reaches everyone’s account on the specified day of October 15.

The notification, in addition, had directed that the drawing and disbursing officers (DDOs) and the deposit account administrators to submit bills or advice to the Treasury in advance and give mandate to the treasuries accordingly to avoid problems in distributing the advance salary money within the specified date.

–IANS

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