The interim government may consider a dearness allowance for lower-grade government staff to provide respite from the ongoing high inflation.

However, it has not yet been finalised whether the allowance will be provided during the ongoing fiscal year or the next one.

A finance ministry official said they have conducted internal exercises and found that a huge amount of money would be required for this at a time when the government has been facing a shortfall in revenue collection.

As a result, the government is considering whether the dearness allowance could be provided only to staffers of the 10th to 20th grades.

In this regard, Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed told The Daily Star on Monday that he will not say anything at this moment.

"I will not do anything unpopular. I have no desire to be a populist, nor do I want to please anybody. I am looking into the matter. This is what I can say at this moment," he further said.

The finance adviser noted that there are employees in different grades who receive low salaries.

He said staffers have already met him and pleaded that they would die of hunger if their salaries are not increased. "There is a humane side here," he said.

He also noted that employees earning Tk 18,000 in salary have a case, but secretaries, who receive Tk 80,000, are in a different position.

Finally, the adviser mentioned that they are considering whether anything can be done within a slab.

Earlier this month, Md Mokhlesur Rahman, senior secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, said that a dearness allowance for government employees will be announced before June 30, reports UNB.

Rahman, who is also a member of the Dearness Allowance Review Committee, stated that two meetings have been held regarding the matter.

He did not disclose the percentage of the dearness allowance to be announced.

Yesterday, after a meeting of the cabinet committee on purchase at the secretariat, the finance adviser told journalists he was unaware of any announcement regarding the dearness allowance.

"Who has announced this? I don't know anything about it; I didn't announce it," he said.

In response to a query, Salehuddin said no decision on the matter had been taken by him, adding, "If any proposal comes, we will discuss it."

He clarified that he neither supports nor opposes the dearness allowance but is simply unaware of it.

On railway staff demands, he said, "Some logical demands have been met. Demands keep coming from various sectors. While it's not possible to meet all demands, we are trying to address the logical ones."