Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal

Chandigarh, Oct 22 (IANS) The Punjab government has allowed release of dearness allowance (DA) in the pension of its retired employees who have settled abroad and have acquired foreign citizenship.

Punjab Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa has given his approval to the foreign settled retired employees to get DA with their pensions, a state government spokesman said on Saturday.

“The Punjab government has decided to take back a letter stopping DA of pensioners of state government who acquired foreign citizenship,” the spokesperson said.

A large number of retired government employees from Punjab have over the last few decades migrated to other countries, especially the UK, the US and Canada.

Punjab has a big Non-Resident Indians (NRI) population with strong links to their roots in the state.