Hyderabad, Jan 23 : The Telangana government on Monday approved one installment of Dearness Allowance (DA) for government employees and pensioners. The state government issued a Government Order, approving 2.73 per cent DA. The DA will now go up to 20.02 per cent of the basic pay from earlier 17.29. The hike will benefit 4.40 lakh employees and 2.88 lakh pensioners. Finance Minister T. Harish Rao said the hike will come into effect from July 1, 2021. The DA arrears from July 2021 to December 2022 will be credited to GPF accounts of the employees in eight installments. In another move, the state government released the schedule for transfers and promotions of the employees. The process will begin on January 27. Online applications for the same will be accepted from January 28 to January 30. The process will be completed on March 4. Employees can file appeals from March 5 to 19. /IANS