Chandigarh — Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced at a press conference in Chandigarh on Wednesday that the pending 3 per cent instalment of dearness allowance (DA) is being released for the state's government employees and pensioners, a decision he described as a Diwali gift. The release takes Punjab's DA rate from 50 per cent to 53 per cent and will benefit about eight lakh employees and pensioners, he said.

Source: TV9 Punjabi — Mann press conference, DA announcement

Reports of the announcement place the enhanced DA in the November salary for serving employees and in the pension paid in December for pensioners; Suchna TV reported the increase as taking effect from December 1, 2026, and Shaheed-e-Azam News reported Mann as saying the pending instalment was being released with immediate effect. Mann put the benefit of the latest 3 per cent at about Rs 363 crore a month to employees and pensioners, according to Punjabi Khabarsaar's report of the press conference.

Source: Suchna TV — Punjab DA hike to 53%

11 per cent in two months, says Mann

Mann said the latest release means his government has released a total of 11 per cent DA in the past two months: the 8 per cent increase announced in September 2026 — paid in two instalments of 4 per cent each, which took the rate from 42 to 50 per cent — followed by Wednesday's further 3 per cent. He said employees were receiving 28 per cent DA when his government took office in 2022 and will now receive 53 per cent. These figures are the Chief Minister's own account of his government's record, stated at the press conference.

Source: City Khabarnaama — CM Mann opens relief package, DA to 53%

First press conference after the candidate list and the defections

Wednesday's interaction was Mann's first press conference since the Aam Aadmi Party released its first list of 40 candidates for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections on October 31 and since three sitting AAP MLAs — Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, Chetan Singh Jouramajra and Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra — resigned and joined the BJP on November 2. Asked about the defections, Mann said their leaving made no difference to his party, and remarked that the three should at least have asked Captain Amarinder Singh before going — the BJP, he said, does not even ask after them. His remarks are reported here as his statements at the press conference.

Source: TV9 Punjabi — Mann on the three MLAs joining BJP

On the ED searches in Moga: 'they keep coming'

Asked about the Enforcement Directorate's searches at the premises of Moga MLA Dr Amandeep Kaur Arora earlier on Wednesday, Mann said the agency keeps coming, that it would find nothing there, and alleged that such actions are a weapon used at election time — his allegation, made at the press conference and reported by TV9 Punjabi. AAP leaders have alleged political targeting in the searches; the ED's own statement on what the searches found was still awaited in the reports cited in this article.

Source: TV9 Punjabi — Mann responds on ED raid

The searches Mann was asked about were conducted at seven premises linked to the Moga MLA on Wednesday morning, in a case officials linked to a 2024 Punjab Police FIR over highway land. Read: ED searches 7 premises linked to AAP MLA Amandeep Kaur Arora in Moga

Jobs, Delhi's air and the treasury

Mann also said his government has so far given 71,777 government jobs and that more than 600 more are ready. On Delhi's air pollution and Delhi minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa's allegations over stubble burning, he said most of the paddy had not even been harvested yet and that Punjab had no hand in Delhi's pollution — alleging a conspiracy to defame Punjab and asking the Delhi government to explain where its pollution was coming from; these are his claims, made in response to the Delhi minister's allegations. He said about 2,000 people were currently travelling under the Mukh Mantri Tirath Yatra scheme, and that his government had never claimed the treasury was empty, taking a jibe at ministers of previous governments who, he said, used to say so.

Source: TV9 Punjabi — Mann on jobs, Delhi pollution, Tirath Yatra

The court case running underneath the DA announcement

The announcement lands in the middle of a court fight over DA itself. On Tuesday, November 3, the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued a show-cause contempt notice to Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha over the state's failure to pay pending DA and dearness relief arrears ordered on August 3 — arrears the Chief Secretary's own status report put at about Rs 32,418 crore. The BJP, for its part, has promised Punjab employees DA at 63 per cent, in line with the central rate, if it comes to power in 2027, and has accused the Mann government of failing employees on arrears. Wednesday's release covers the current DA rate; it is separate from the arrears dispute before the High Court.

Source: Shaheed-e-Azam News — Punjab announces 3% DA hike

A day earlier, the High Court had issued its contempt notice in the DA arrears case, with the Chief Secretary's reply due by November 13 and the next hearing on November 17. Read: contempt notice to Punjab Chief Secretary over DA arrears