Thiruvananthapuram: The Assembly has passed ‘The payment of salaries and allowances (amendment) Bill 2018’, which has given an extra reason for MLAs to be happy apart from pay hike – Rs 50,000 per year to purchase flight tickets. The amount is to be utilised for attending Assembly sessions.
The provision for reimbursing flight tickets was incorporated in the Bill through an amendment. The state exchequer will be burdened with another Rs 44 lakh per month following the salary hike given by the ministers and MLA to themselves. This is when the government has given the call to reduce expenses and practise thrift.
The monthly salary of MLAs has gone up steeply- from Rs 39,500 to Rs 70,000. Among the hikes the legislators have been given constituency allowance from Rs 12,000 to Rs 25,000, telephone bill reimbursement from Rs 7,500 to Rs 11,000 and office allowance from Rs 3,000 to Rs 8,000. MLAs can claim a minimum Rs 20,000 as batta even if they go nowhere.
The government has to shoulder an extra Rs 36 lakh a month for the 118 MLAs, which comes to Rs 4.50 crore a year.
Ministers, Opposition leaders and others with Cabinet rank, numbering 22, will now get Rs 90,000 in place of Rs 55,000 a month. For meeting the additional Rs 35,000 per head, the exchequer has to find another Rs eight lakh every month.
This salary hike comes close on the heels of a recent raise in vehicle and housing loans for legislators. While the interest-free vehicle loan had gone up from Rs five lakh to Rs 10 lakh, the housing loan increased to Rs 20 lakh from Rs 10 lakh.
With the Assembly passing the Bill, the government now has to find the additional amount from next month itself.
Though the government claims that the hike in salary and allowances has been implemented based on the report of the justice J M James Committee appointed to study the matter, the Bill has ignored many of the recommendations of the panel regarding cost-saving measures.
What the Bill says:
“A hike in the salary of ministers, speaker and MLAs was last implemented back in 2012. During the last five years, the prices of food items, petrol, diesel and electricity have gone up. In these circumstances, the government appointed a committee headed by justice J M James to study the issue of a salary hike to ministers, legislators, speaker, deputy speaker, chief whip, Opposition leader and former MLAs. The panel submitted its report on August 22, 2017.”
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