Bhubaneswar: In what can be termed as a festive season gift, the Odisha government today hiked the dearness allowance of its employees and T.I of its pensioners by 2 per cent.

With the hike, the overall dearness allowance of the state government employees reached at 9 per cent.

The hiked allowance will be applicable retrospectively from July 1, 2018. Teachers and staff of fully-aided private colleges will also be benefited from the hike.