CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay on Thursday announced a 2% hike in dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees and teachers, increasing it from 58% to 60% with retrospective effect from January 1 this year.The move is expected to benefit around 16 lakh state government employees, pensioners and family pensioners across the state.“The revised DA structure will benefit state government employees and teachers,” Vijay said in a statement.The chief minister said government employees and teachers play a crucial role in implementing welfare schemes and ensuring the delivery of public services across the state. The revised DA would be extended to state employees on par with the Union government’s revision, he added.The hike will result in an additional annual expenditure of ?1,230 crore for the state exchequer. The government said the necessary additional allocation would be made keeping in mind the welfare of employees, teachers, pensioners and family pensioners.