Bhubaneswar, Feb 25 (IANS) Ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Odisha, the Naveen Patnaik government on Monday announced a hike of Dearness Allowance (DA) by an additional three per cent for its employees.

It also announced the same hike in Dearness Relief (TI) of pension holders. The move comes jsut on the heels of the Centre's decision to increase the DA by 3 per cent for its employees and pensioners.

The hiked allowance, approved by Patnaik, would become applicable retrospectively from January 1, 2019, said a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

--IANS cd/in/ab